Something More
by Alamorn
Summary: Rikku and Gippal have always been friends. After Vegnagun she returns to what she knows- machina and him.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I'll say this once, because I probably won't remember to do it again. I do not own Final Fantasy X-2, or any of the characters involved.;

A/N: Hey. This is a set up prologue/chapter/thing. Yes, it's kind of (read: really) short. Yes, it will be continued. At least four more chapters, since I already have those written. The rest will be written first person Rikku, past tense. Doing it all in this style would kill me. This is really meant to be more of a framing device, giving a little history to start the story off.

Something More

They've been friends for as long as she can remember, playing in the sand together when they were five and eight, pulling pranks on everyone at seven and ten, learning to dismantle and build machina blindfolded at nine and twelve, pretending they didn't know each other (an utterly useless endeavor, since all of Home watched them grow up together) at thirteen and sixteen, going their separate ways to try and save the world at fifteen and eighteen.

He was there when her mama died, letting her sob and sob and sob, getting his shoulder gunky with snot and tears until she pulled back and swore she'd make machina that would never ever ever malfunction.

She was there when he lost his eye to a fiend in the desert. She held him as he screamed and screamed, blood all over his face and her shirt, and both of their hair was sticky, tacky, clotted with it.

So it was no surprise to anyone that her first time seeing him after Sin, the pilgrimage, _everything_ (blood red coats and obnoxious laughter, clinking belts and hate and forgiveness, and iron will with a soft smile, and silent understanding) she launched herself at him and kissed him SMACK on the lips. But she was too young and wild to settle down and he was too young and wild to care and it only lasted a week.

They were thrown back together when Vegnagun woke up (Blond hair and blue eyes, but the wrong eyes, and it hurt so so much to see Yunie cry for a dream until the dream came back). She was still laughter and lollipops and he was still snarky and smirky flirty and they fell back into their old, time worn rhythm.

And it didn't surprise anyone when she turned up at the front door of Djose Temple and said, a smirk on her face, "I'm hired."

It was even less of a surprise when he smirked back and said, "Alright."


	2. The Story Begins, or I am Awesome

Heya, this is the first chapter, and second installment of Something More. I should be updating most Fridays or Saturdays.

Oh! This isn't terribly important, but unless they're talking to someone who wouldn't know Al Bhed, that's what they're talking in.

The Fahrenheit, for those that don't know is the name of the airship in FFX.

**On the Terrible Changing of Names, Among Other Things.**

I slid into the guts of an over sized machina – sorry, _machine_ – some fluff-for-brains had managed to screw up. It was a heavy lifter, and about a ton, which is a liiittle nerve wracking to have right on top of you. Of course, I am the epitome of awesome, and have no problem with claustrophobia or fear of crushing related deaths AT ALL. Promise. Anyways, the exposed gears and pipes, all shiny copper and steel, loomed an inch away from my nose.

I grinned at them. There is nothing quite so awesome as getting your hands dirty, if you ask me, and honestly, why wouldn't you? I rock. My opinion on everything is the end-all, be-all. Unless you're a grumpy dead man, then my opinion isn't worth much of anything.

However! We are not talking about Big Red, we are talking about my awesomeitude in fixing the crapped up innards of this hunk of metal.

I stuck a beautiful, perfectly manicured-only-not, because manicures don't last long in mechanics, hand out and waved it around a bit so my partner would see it. "Three-fourths wrench."

I should have said please, but I was raised as a princess and I never learned manners.

The wrench plunked into my hand, worn steel and a rough grip fitting perfectly in my palm. I pulled it under with me, put my arm in a position I'm almost positive was impossible without breaking an elbow and, with a fair bit of (attractive) grunting and swearing, loosened the bolt enough to get it the rest of the way off with my fingers.

I set it down next to me, then fumbled at the cracked pipe that _should_ have been transporting oil to the parts of machina – AUGH! Dammit! MACHINE – that needed lube but was instead just leaking a lot until it came out in my hand. Some left over traces of oil splashed down on my hair. Yevon be twice damned, I just washed it this morning! Do you have any idea how long it takes for hair this thick and long to dry? Ages! At least four hours in the sun! Tarnation!

"Fft," I said, and put the pipe on the floor and slid it out from under the metal beast. "Tube."

The new tubing, all brushed copper and just so shiny the magpie in me was having epileptic fits about giving it up, smacked into my hand. Aw, yeah, that's the stuff. One inch diameter, special spray treatment so it won't crack under high pressure or heat. Shouldn't need to be replaced for another twenty years, baby.

Getting my mind away from the whole drooling-over-new-advances-in-technology-thing I jammed my arm back into that contortionist position, threaded it up with the old pipe and bolted it in tight. I tried to wiggle it a couple times, to make sure it was secure, but it didn't budge.

I got a "Rikku done good" smirk on my face, and started to inchworm my way out. When I was most of the way out a tan, blond, one-eyed head leaned over me. I yelped in surprise and tried to sit up, banging my head against the undercarriage of the machina – machine. Hey, I was expecting to see my partner, Mallai, not my skanky boss/friend looking like a monkey in my underwear drawer. I swear to the fayth, those things love polk-a-dot panties. I had them in my room, stealing them, three times this week alone.

Gippal had on a self-satisfied expression that left me torn – torn, I tell you! - about whether to make a bad joke about him taking orders, or a bad joke about what the LEADER of the Machine Faction was doing here.

Luckily, he did it for me. "Neeever thought I'd be taking orders outside the bedroom, Cid's Girl. You must be preetty special."

"Ch'yeah," I said, rubbing my head. "Not every girl saves the world twice in two years, and looks this good doing it."

His eyebrow went up a little and he gave me a once over. I was wearing a grease-stained, oil-spattered, hole-filled boy's tee two sizes too big for me, and a pair of his pants I had stolen this morning because I was out of clean bottoms. I was a picture of grace and beauty, and if anyone tells you otherwise, smack them.

"Yeah, whatever. It's a good thing most girls don't save the world, if you're a good example of what it does to their egos."

"Pshaw, Gip, I haven't got half the ego you do." I smiled brightly at him, as he reared back with a hand on his heart, an expression of pain and horror twisting his face. "Was there a reason you're here? Other than to gaze upon my radiant beauty of course."

"Of course," he said dryly. "Actually, there was. Your Pops is on the comm, wants to talk to you. About . . . something. When I told him you were busy he got a little red in the face and started yelling that when a good Al Bhed girl was too busy to speak with her father Spira really was going down the drain. Then some other stuff. I stopped listening at the part where he asked why I hadn't gotten you pregnant yet."

Gippal laughed at my face, which was contorted in a rictus of horror. "He's still on that?" I asked in a whisper.

"He's still on that," Gippal said back, solemnly.

"Damn it, I thought I made it clear I'm not popping out nothing until I'm at least twenty-five! And especially not with you!"

"But I'm gorgeous!" Gippal protested. "Why wouldn't you want to have babies with me?"

I tapped my lips and stared at the ceiling. "Maybe because I'd have to worry about your personality being transmittable?" I offered after a moment.

"That hurts, Cid's Girl. Really, it does. I may die now. Tell," he sniffed, "tell my mother I always loved her. And, give flowers to all the pretty ladies from me, tell them I'm sorry I couldn't last longer. Offer your condolences. Possibly with your body."

I smacked him in the leg, then pushed myself to my feet. "Sicko. There's no way I'm gonna sleep with your girlfriends for you."

"But! It'd be hot!" he whined.

I rolled my eyes. "So would Paine dressed like a girl. Doesn't mean it's going to happen. So, the comm sphere in your office? He still on there, or do I have to call him back?"

He grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me around. "Did you just call Paine hot?"

I pulled his fingers off of me, one by one. "Uh, yeah. So, my Pops?"

He waved a hand dismissively, "He was still ranting when I went off to find you. Dunno if he hung up since then. Back to important things. You and Paine?"

"Are very good friends. And she's stacked! You should have seen her in the bathing suit! Doesn't mean anything happened."

He sighed, "Pity."

I shook my head, kicked the . . . machine . . . next to me, flipped the start switch and watched it rumble to life.

I turned to him with big, swirly green puppy dog eyes and said, lower lip trembling, "Give me something _challenging_ next time, Gip! I coulda done this blindfolded." I clasped my hands to my chest and spun around dreamily. "I want something that threatens to kill me if I hit the wrong spot. I want something that needs a careful, loving touch. I want something that insures at least an hour of trouble shooting to find what's wrong, even before going in to fix it. I want a new Machina Maw, Gip. I'm so bored with these clunkers."

I turned back to him, and let my hands drop to my hips. "Please, Gip? Something a four year old couldn't fix?"

He stared at me, considering. "Wanna build an airship?

I gaped like a fish. A very attractive fish, but still a fish. "Are. . . are you serious? Would I like to build an airship? I would love to build an airship. I will love you forever and ever and ever, and have all those babies Pops keeps asking me for, and and and no, I'll still steal your eye patch, but less often, and um, maybe let you beat me once or twice during sparring, but no guarantees, and uh, I won't steal your food from your plate at dinner anymore, and er, . . .something."

"All that?"

"Well." I paused, thinking. "No. But I might stop stealing your clothes when I forget to do my laundry."

He snorted. "Nothing in Spira has ever kept you from stealing my clothes when you forgot to do your laundry. We've been on different sides of the _continent_ and I've woken up with missing shirts."

"Well, I'm just that awesome. How about I'll be your bestest, bestest friend forever and ever?"

"I dunno. I've already got plenty of cute girls hanging around. Some of them even wear less than you do."

I scowled. "I won't kick you in the nuts for that comment then, how about that?"

He smirked. "I suppose that'll have to do."

"Goodie, cuz everything else I would've gone back on eventually." I stopped for a second, let what he had said sink in. "Wait, you mean, BUILD an AIRSHIP? Like, from scratch?"

"Uh, yeah." He ran a hand through his hair and gave me a hard look. "You up for it?"

I leaped in the air, then dashed over to hug him. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes! A thousand times yes! How big? How fast? What carrying capacity? Oooh, oooh, oooh, ooooooh! Can it be streamlined, not like the Celsius, but fast shaped, and ooooh, what team, how long do we have to work on it? You won't give it totally tacky flames will you? Cause that is SUCH a boy thing to do. I mean, look at Brother. You won't be like Brother, will you? I would have to hate you. Forever."

He chuckled at me, eye crinkling with amusement. "I will never be like your brother, Cid's Girl. Don't have to worry about that. Jeeze, you know how to pile on the questions, don't you. I was thinking something small, five-person at the most, for me to travel around Spira in, then maybe start selling. It can be as fast as you can make it, baby girl. Uh." He squinched up his face. "Whatever shape you want, just make it look cool. I've been planning this baby ever since we found the Fahrenheit, so just don't ruin anything. The blueprints ARE mostly already made, but you've spent more time on airships than I have, so I want you to look them over for anything that can be tweaked before we start building. I was thinking it would be just you and I, but if that seems like it's taking too long we can call in some more people. Nhadala knows about it, and is willing to supply us with whatever we need for half-price, but she doesn't want to actually help with the building. No time constraints. It'll be done when it's done."

I stared at him, starry eyed. "Gippal. I just want to tell you this now, and if you ever ask me again I will vehemently deny it, but I love you. You are a sparkly golden god, and I will worship you for the rest of my life for this, or at least until you say something stupid again."

I leaned forward and hugged him again, then put one of my hands in his, and my other hand on his shoulder. I started to lead him in a waltz around the room, jumping over the scattered debris from all the modifications I had been doing.

He laughed and started humming. When we finished the dance he bowed low and gracious, and totally different from his personality. "Thank you for the dance, milady," he said. "Now, were you going to talk to your father or not?"

I scowled, swore, and punched him in the shoulder. He winced and I glared at him. "I didn't hit you that hard. You suck. I dun wanna talk to him, Gip! I want him to go stick his head up a chocobo's butt, and stop bothering me all the time. Mmmuuurgh. You both suck."

I stomped out of the room and down the hall, ignoring Mallai when she asked why it always took me about an hour longer to do stuff with Gippal than with her. Bitch was smiling like a cat with a canary. I know what she was thinking, and no, just no. I would never sleep with Gippal. He probably has all the diseases in the book, and probably a few that aren't.

I took a few deep breaths on the lift down, then went into Gippal's office. The last thing I wanted to do right then was talk to my Pops. We still couldn't agree on anything and I knew it would just devolve into another shouting match, not like we hadn't had enough of those already.

Welp, here goes nothing.


	3. Argument is an Art

A/N: Okay, so it's pretty safe to say updates are on Saturdays. Couple things you guys need to know. One, I am doing NaNoWriMo right now. I have a few more chapters already written out, but not enough to get all the way through November, so towards the end of the month there may be a temporary hiatus. Temporary. I won't stop writing this. Two, I am looking for a beta-reader. For all my shit, but mostly for this. If you're interested, PM me. Warning for possible beta's – most of my stuff, other than this is for Yuffie and Vincent from FFVII. Now, on with the show! Oh, and remember, unless said otherwise, they're speaking Al Bhed. Forgot to mention this before, this takes place about a year after X-2.

**Something More**

I sat down at Gippal's desk and eyed the comm sphere warily. Pops seemed to think that since I saved – well, helped to save – the world twice I'd be totes awesome at ruling. Yeah, I don't get it either, but he'd been bugging me for a while to come back and help with the rebuilding of Home.

I turned on the transmitter, so that incoming messages would be received and not just make the thing beep a lot. It's a feature Gippal jerry-rigged onto his, the whole have to answer it thing, instead of it just switching on whenever someone called. He claimed it was to save power, but I think it was so he could have smutty office sex without worrying about someone calling and seeing him.

"Father," I said, staring at the grainy image of his bald head.

"Rikku," he said back, eying the oil in my hair and on my shirt.

With that show of civility done we relaxed back into our normal name-calling, insult-hurling, possibly loving relationship. I wouldn't put good gil on the loving aspect of it, if I were you.

"The hell do you want, Pops?" I asked him, slouching back into the seat. The cushion oozed around my body like a really creepy hug. Gippal had the coolest stuff in his office, I swear to the fayth.

"Well, I was just calling to let you know Miri popped out the kid, but if you're going to take that attitude-"

"Wait, wait, wait. Back up a sec, old man, if you aren't too senile. Miri gave birth? Boy or girl?"

He heaved a drama queen sigh, something totally weird coming from a slightly older, slightly fat bald guy in a unitard. "Girl, brat. So are coming Home or you gonna keep prancing around looking like a whore for the rest of your life?"

I ignored him with the ease of long practice. You have no idea how many times we've done this. He harps on my outfit, I wonder when he turned into a prude, because hey, half the women at Home just wear a purple bikini. At least I put a skirt on. It got easier to tune him out the third time he said it. "Is she named after me? How big is she? Actually, can I talk to Miri? Offense totally meant, but you're a bit boring." I paused, narrowed my eyes and leaned forward. "Oh, and I'll stop looking like a whore when you dump the stupid unitard."

He seemed to droop a little, rubbing his face with one hand and sighing. "Rikku," he said, almost plaintively. "It's you or Brother, and Yevon knows the boy would screw things up on day one. I don't like it much either, but think about it, will ya?"

"Nyurgh." I thought about Brother being in charge of the Al Bhed and shuddered. Then I shrugged it off. "Working at the Machine Faction is giving me valuable experience, so don't start on that. Sides, you ain't gonna kick the bucket anytime soon, so just lay off, 'kay?"

"Rikku . . ." he growled as I shut off the comm sphere.

"Blurgh," I said, rubbing my face. I love Pops. Really, I do. Probably. But we don't see eye to eye on things _at all_. Honestly, our sights are about as far apart as Besaid and and and Zanarkand. Or something like that. I dunno. But there's a shoopuff in the room, or an army of them, really, and nothings gonna get fixed until we address it. Sadly, both Pops and I are wonderful at ignoring big flashy signs saying, "You blame each other for the wrong things! Stop yelling and start listening!"

"You okay?" Gippal asked.

I turned so fast I near about gave myself whiplash, the beads at the end of my braids hitting my face hard. Where'd he come from?

He was leaning against the door frame, eye soft. Oh no. No, no, no. No pity. I'm Rikku, awesomest thing in the history of awesome, except maybe Yunie, who's like a gazillion times better than me at everything, and _I don't need your pity_.

"Fine," I snapped. "Same old, same old." I forced a grin. "At least he didn't get on me about making babies again. Wanna bet it's cause he just had to watch Miri give birth?" That's the way. Make jokes, distract him.

It worked. His eye lit up, and a smile spread across his face. My stomach did this weird tingly thing and I frowned. How long had it been since I had breakfast?

"Miri gave birth? Girl or boy?" he asked, pulling my attention back to him.

I jumped up and grabbed his hands and we twirled around the room. "Girl!" I shouted, grinning like crazy.

"I bet she named it after you!" he exclaimed, grinning right back.

"I know, right!"

We stopped spinning and I squealed and ran from the room. "The mobile!" I shouted over my shoulder at him. "We have to send her the mobile!"

I heard him grunt in annoyance and start running behind me. Yeah, right, Gip. _No_ one runs like I do.

I skidded to a halt in front of my room and punched in my password in the keypad. The door slid open with a whoosh and I darted inside. The mobile was hanging in the corner. A tiny Machina Maw was one of the danglies and if you pushed on its head it would roar at you. Took a week to make it, but it came out wonderfully. The other decorations were assorted gears and little machina - machines. Augh that word change is _killing_ me. We killed Yevon's bug butt so why won't the precepts and the stupid prejudices go away too? Alright, so most of the precepts are gone gone gone, but the stupid ass prejudices are still hanging around and _it is so annoying_ – all of them fully capable of movement. Aw, yeah. Who's gonna be the best auntie ever?

Miri's one of my bazillion cousins, by the way. She put sand in my pants when we were kids, and I gave her super atomic wedgies, so she messed with my machina and back and forth to infinity (and beyond!). I now planned on spoiling her sprog rotten. Vengeance is sweet, dearies. Mwhahahahaha!

Ahem. Sorry about that. I get carried away sometimes.

I turned to Gip after taking down the mobile. "Anyone going to New Home today?"

"Darro should be, today or tomorrow. We can send it with him"

"Oh, goodie!" I paused. "On second thought, you give it to him."

He raised his eyebrow. "Anything you need to tell me, Cid's Girl?"

"Just that I have a name." I smiled winningly at him as he scowled at me. Gippal's a good friend, but he didn't need to know about all my problems. He would insist on helping me, and as sweet as that would be, I was a big girl who could handle herself, thankyouverymuch.

I glanced around my room and saw a garment grid. There was a moment where, in a movie, ominous music would have played and there would have been progressive choppy close ups. The thin layer of dust seemed almost to accuse me,

"Oh, and how about we spar or spend the day clearing the road to the Moonflow tomorrow? We can get spicy chicken," I wheedled.

Gippal looked annoyed, but more out of habit than any genuine ill will. Every couple weeks I would do this, and every couple weeks I would kick his ass to kingdom come.

"Fine," he grumbled. "But you're paying."

Yes! I pumped my fist in the air in a victory gesture. I _knew_ he couldn't resist spicy chicken. He smirked a little and watched me bounce around. His gaze was soft and I was starting to feel a little bit uncomfortable, so I kicked him out of my room.

I flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He kept doing that lately, looking at me tenderly, like I was something precious. It was . . . weird. I mean, this was _Gippal_, for crying out loud. He didn't _do_ tender or soft. It was confusing me.


	4. Eh, I got nothing

A/N: So, I got a beta-reader. This makes me very happy. Her name is Jounetsu-no-Hana. But you guys don't care about that, you want to read a story. Sorry this is late, I was busy today (cough, Dragon Age, cough).

Something More

After a while I got bored of staring at the ceiling and went out to the yard in front of the temple. On my way there, I stuck my head in Gippal's office and told him he had five minutes.

He looked up from a pile of paperwork, eye slightly mad. "Whhhhhhhy," he said.

"What?"

"Whhhhhhhhy."

"Why are we sparring or why were you stupid enough to start a business?"

"The second one."

"I dunno," I said, shrugging. "It seemed like a good idea at the time?"

"Go," he said imperiously, waving a hand. "Leave me, peon."

"Five minutes, dude."

"Fine," he grumbled, and I skipped out of there.

I stood in the front yard and thumbed the dress sphere into place as Gippal walked up. I felt the outfit slide into place, which is way more complicated than I'm making it sound. It's hard to explain dress spheres to people who haven't used them. Hell, even Shinra doesn't get it and he invented the damn things.

See, it's less like changing clothes than changing personalities. Not totally – we never would have used them if we were changing who were as people. But they carry personality traits, and when in use, they exacerbate the already existing ones.

So the thief dress sphere is all bubbliness and light, and really, a lot of fun, which is why I wear it all the time. The Alchemist is all Al Bhed pride and cold intelligence. So on and so forth. They were all made from certain people or spheres, and the one I had just slid into was made from a man you guys might have heard of. I liked to call him Big Red. He was pretty legendary.

So when I slid into Samurai I kinda felt like he was there with me. He didn't, like, talk or anything. That would be weird, and it was pretty much a one time thing when we were fighting Vegnagun. I just meant that it totally gave me flash backs to the pilgrimage when he was giving me and Tidus (and Wakka, but not Kimahri) some training. When I say training, I mean yelling at us for making stupid rookie errors. Eh, that was as close to friendly as the big guy _got_, most days.

Still, it was a nice feeling. And, it helped me keep my head, no matter the stupid tingly feelings I got in my stomach, indigestion or no.

Anyway, Gip sighed when he saw the big ass sword I was lugging. I can whoop him any day of the week, but it's worst with the heavy hitters like Samurai. (I lie. It's worst with Mascot. Humiliation value: Go!)

He hefted that totally-compensating-for-something gun and took aim. I darted forward, slowed somewhat by the by the weight of the sword and slashed at him as he fired at me. I got him in the stomach, totally ruining another of his ridonk purple shirts.

The mortar bullet thing whammed into me and everything went star bursty with pain. I gulped a potion and lunged again, getting him in the thigh when he tried to go for a potion of his own.

He went down. Hard. Gippal may have had tough as nails Crimson Squad training, but nothing keeps you standing with a cut thigh muscle. Hell if I know the name. The one in front. The quad? Something. Whatever.

I did one bad ass victory pose, then changed back to Thief, where upon I proceeded (see! I can sound fancy!) to dance and mock as he chugged a high potion.

"Why the hell do I let you talk me into this?" he grumbled as he pulled himself to his feet, using the gun as a crutch.

I put my hands behind my back and smiled up at him, batting my eyelashes. "Because you think I'm cuuuute," I teased.

He snorted. "Sorry, babe. You're not my type."

"What?" I huffed, mock offended. I put my hands on my hips and gave him a look with a capital L. "How can I not be your type? Awesome is everybody's type. Oh, I know. You're just intimidated."

"Bet you can't beat me without a dress sphere," he said, smirking.

What.

No, seriously, rewind.

"I. Bet. You. Can't. Win. Without. A dress sphere."

Now, I am a lady, and my Pops always taught me that ladies don't swear. Oh, what the hell, I never listened to the old man anyway.

"Bitch, I beat Sin when I was fifteen, no dress spheres. You've got a whole lot of nothing on Jecht's fat ass."

"Puh-lease. Yuna and Sir Auron did all the heavy lifting there, anyway," he said, waving a hand.

What. As cool (and grumpy) as Auron was, he did not get to take all the credit for saving Yunie's butt on that suicide mission.

Yunie . . . Well, Yunie does get all the credit for winning that battle. It was all about her, anyway, but she never would've made it to Sin without us, so buster you're going down.

"You're on," I told Gippal, finger in his face. "You and me, no dress spheres, just my old claw and targe. _I'm going to cream you, little boy_."

I may have cackled a bit. Okay, a lot.

"But before that, spicy chicken," I said when I finished coughing. Laughing madly makes me cough for some reason and the whole time Gippal just stood there, looking smug.

Yeah, okay, I may have looked stupid, but that would just make it all the more humiliating when I beat him. So go ahead, Gippal. Yuck it up. We'll see who laughs last.

Here's a hint, since I know you're kind of dumb. _It won't be you._

Mwa ha ha ha ha hack – cough, cough, oh _fayth_, ow.

Stop looking at me funny. I'm not weird.

.

Gippal shoved a chicken wing covered with seasonings into my hands and we sat down on the bank of the Moonflow, Tobli's band playing on the back of the shoopuff. Surprisingly, there wasn't much of a crowd. It was . . . nice.

"Hey, Gip?" I said after a while.

"Yeah, Cid's Girl?"

"I have a name," I said automatically, then leaned against his shoulder. "Do you think I should go back to New Home, like Pops wants, and help out?"

He went very still all of a sudden, then reached over and ruffled my hair, the beads in it going click clack.

"I can't tell you what to do, Rikku. I like having you here. You're fun, and one of my best workers, but you _do_ have responsibilities as Cid's daughter. I'd love it if you'd stay and build airships with me, but the Al Bhed – _we_ will need you one day, and you'll have to be ready for that."

"Oh." I sighed. "Damn. I liked it better when all I had to worry about was keeping Yunie alive. And getting to a sphere before Leblanc. That was pretty fun."

He laughed. "I'd say things have gotten more complicated since then, but you guys pummeled Spira into a new shape and fought an old machina hell beast, so that wouldn't be too accurate."

"Ff. Just tryin' to stay alive. Have you heard from Baralai recently? Paine said she's staying with him, last time I spoke to her."

"Oh man! The last thing those two need is each other! Can't you just see them both being stoic and silent across a dinner table?"

I chuckled and slid down so my head was resting on his leg and I was staring out across the flowers and the pyreflies.

"Thanks, Gip," I whispered, without being quite sure what I was thanking him for. Being there? Making me laugh? Supporting me? Any way I looked at it, as insufferable as he could be, I would have been a lot worse off without him.


	5. The Perils of Employment

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long break between updates. I was doing NaNoWriMo and it totally ate my time. On the plus side, I finished it, and may post it on fictionpress in a month or two when I can stand to look at it long enough to edit. This chapter's kinda long, so hopefully that helps a little? Also, this is my last prewritten chapter. Tarnation!

For the people that reviewed that I haven't gotten back to, sorry about that! I read your reviews, and they made me very happy, I've just been so super busy I didn't have time to respond.

Something More

I woke up late that night. You know, the times when it's so late it's early, but can't rightly be called morning. The type that shouldn't exist, or at least shouldn't bother beautiful awesomeriffic Al Bhed princesses.

(The Al Bhed would never consent to a king, but Pops is close enough that I am fully comfortable calling myself Princess Rikku Jasmine Marriena. Shut up, I was four.)

I mean, I was familiar enough with the buttcrack of the morning, from this one time when I kept stealing everyones (Auron's) stuff and Big Red put me on mid-watch for a month. Let me tell you this now, so you don't have to figure it out for yourself. Mid-watch fucking _sucks_. You have to wake up for a few hours, then try and go back to sleep at, like, two in the morning, and I never could.

See? I'm nice. I just gave you a hint for if you ever have to travel the world, trying to keep your cousin from selflessly offing herself. If you ever steal from the big grumpy one, _don't get caught_.

Wait. What was that morals thing Pops keeps trying to teach me? Don't . . . ste- No, that can't be right. Don't get caught it is.

So, anyways, after staring at the ceiling for twenty minutes I got up. I hadn't yet decided on whether to bother Gippal or watch the lightning around the temple.

For convenience's sale, I checked Gippal's room first. We had the only two rooms actually _in_ Djose. Him because he ran the joint, me because I was Cid's heir. At least my Pops was good for _something_. Everyone else slept in barracks out back, and the quiet of the place at night compared to the constant bang clatter jabber of the day was almost eerie.

I stopped outside Gippal's room. There was a ribbon tied to the door handle, drooping softly in the humid late night air. It meant, "Rikku, don't come in. I either am getting some action or want to be alone right now."

It was a code we worked out about a month after I moved in. I have a habit of inviting myself into wherever I want to be, and after I walked in on him with three different girls (separate occasions, thank the fayth) we figured out that I just couldn't get the hang of knocking, and I'd see a lock as a challenge. So we tried out the ribbon thing, found it worked pretty well. I had one too, since Gip had the exact same personal space problems as me. I didn't use it often though – despite the way I dressed, I wasn't a slut. Well. Not much of one. Hey, I'm a big girl.

Selfishly, I hoped the ribbon just meant he wanted to be alone for the night. Something in me didn't like the idea of him with another woman.

I considered kicking the door – just to check, of course – but decided against it, turning and going outside. I wandered about fifty feet from the temple then lay down and watched the lightning crack and dance.

I'm a desert girl at heart. I love the wide open, and the sand, and the arid heat, but now that I wasn't afraid of lightning I could admit Djose was actually kind of pretty too, especially at night. I would probably never like lightning, but without a totally rational fear holding me back, sometimes it was fun to watch it. From a safe distance of course.

So I sat and watched the spider webs of light crack-thrum though the darkness until the day dawned, bloody and red.

Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky at morning, sailors take warning.

Now, I hadn't been on a ship for a few months, or more, really, but that's the type of rhyme that gets nailed into you as a kid who's part of a seafaring culture. It made me a little nervous about how the day was going to turn out, I'll admit it. First Gippal giving reasonable advice, then not being able to sleep, then the red sky. It was all starting to look a little _risky_. Oh, and I was fighting with Pops again, but we could (and did) fight about anything and everything, so that wasn't anything new.

Oh, and how right I was. About the day being bad, I mean. Sure, it started out fine, lulling me into a false sense of security. I checked out the blueprints Gippal had made up for the engine to the ship and tweaked a couple things to make it more fuel efficient. Then I downsized the fuel tank – with higher efficiency it wouldn't need to carry as much and the extra weight would just slow it down – before making the cabin designs a little more comfortable. Man, I really didn't have to do much, just changing a detail here or there. Gippal was an amazing mechanic/engineer/jack-of-all-trades, and if I hadn't lived on an airship for over a year I wouldn't have been able to contribute diddly squat.

It was during lunch break when things went down the shitter.

First I ran into Darro in the lunch line. Darro and I had a _history_, and not in the fun, know-all-about-each-other-and-constantly-bring-up-that-one-time-you-peed-yourself-when-you-were-four kind of way that Gippal and I had.

No, history as in we dated for a month and I broke up with him because he was being a controlling son of a bitch as well as a plain old creepy ass motherfucker. After that he refused to accept I didn't want to see him anymore. I knew Gip would fire him the second I asked him too, but Darro was one of the better mechanics at Djose I could handle what he threw at me. I was a big girl, and I didn't need him to deal with my problems for me.

A big girl that didn't like getting skeeved on.

"Rikku," he said and gave me a once over. "You look . . . good today."

"Eh heh," I whimpered, clutching my lunch tray and trying to edge away.

He stepped forward. "Did you do something with your hair?"

I winced, wishing I hadn't worn pigtails that day. "Uh, yeah. Hey, Darro, I _did_ tell you I never wanted to talk to you again after the last time we met, right?"

"Yes," he said, blinking. "I thought you might have been confused."

Oh Lordy. Told ya he was a creep.

"Oh, hey, look over there, people I actually want to talk to!" I said, and hurried away. When I sat at the table I glanced back and saw he was still staring at me.

Why, oh why, did I ever think he was attractive? Ugh. Right, because he had nice arms. Maybe, I thought, I should start being a little less shallow, make sure a guy isn't batshit insane before dating him- nah!

Lallia raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at me. "Boy trouble?" she asked, all gossippy-sort-of-friendish.

I slumped on the table, head in my arms, beautiful blond hair getting in everyone's grub. "Yes," I moaned, "but not the fun flirty kind, the creepy stalker kind."

Lallia did a little sneering thing in the direction of Darro and patted my back. Sometimes she was almost likable. "No worries, hon. You can beat his ass all the way to the Farplane and back and everyone knows you're in the right of it."

I raised an eyebrow – you would not believe how long I had to practice to get that right, so I pulled it out whenever I could – and looked up at her. "Thanks, Lal," I said dryly. "I'll keep that in mind."

She leaned back in her seat. "How come you haven't fired him already? I _know_ Gippal gave you that right."

Um. Yeah. That. Uh, well, Gip was kind of drunk at the time and there had been this one really annoying girl and it all kind of got worse from there.

"He's a good worker. I can deal with the creeper vibes as long as his quality doesn't drop and he doesn't actually try to touch me."

"Uh-huh," she said skeptically.

"Lalli's right," Kellya chimed in. "He's not _that_ good a worker. I'd've thought Gippal'd toss him out on his ass the second he started giving you those letters."

I chuckled, a bit desperately. "Yeah, funny story-"

Kellya pulled her head back and made an incredulous face. "Rikku, are you saying he doesn't _know_?"

I shrugged, not meeting either of their gazes. "It wasn't all that important, and I figured Gip had better things to do with his time. Like Lalli said, I can handle him if he ever actually becomes dangerous."

They both gave me Looks, then Kellya sighed and punched me in the shoulder. "Just tell the boy. He'll make sure Darro never gets near you again. Voila! Problem solved!"

I scoffed. "Yeah, he'll make sure Darro _can't_ come near me by breaking his legs. Guys, I am fully capable of opening a can of whoop-ass all by myself. I do _not_ need a guy to do it for me."

Lallia sighed a little dreamily, putting her elbows on the table and her chin on her hands. "But it's so hot when they do."

"Uh. Okay. Whatever." I turned to Kellya. "Please tell me you're an empowered woman that can fight her own battles."

She giggled and shoved a forkful of the mush they were calling meatloaf into my mouth. Kellya's a sweetheart and all, and she was _far_ more tolerable than Lallia, but sometimes she wasn't . . . all there.

"Of course I am, Rikku. But that doesn't mean I won't let a guy do it for me."

"Ugh, you guys are impossi- oh hey Gip. Whatcha doing?" I tilted my head back so I could see him properly.

He pulled out a chair and plunked down. Lallia was momentarily shocked into silence.

"Hey, Cid's Girl. Nothin' much. Did you know one of the guys over there has been staring at you for the past five minutes?"

"Yeah, actually, I did. Thank's for telling me."

Lallia seemed to get her mind back in order. "Gippal, sir, what a pleasure to have your company," she said, her voicer sultry, her eyes heavy lidded.

Oh, _barf_, was she seriously trying to seduce _Gippal_? I would've thought she'd go for someone a bit more challenging. Like a _prostitute_.

He grinned at her and unsubtly checked out her chest while he said, "Oh, the pleasure is all mine. You're Lallia, right? Part of the group that signed on a month ago?"

"Why, yes!" she exclaimed.

My eyebrows were going higher and higher. Could you two _not_ do this while I'm eating, plzkaythx.

Kellya made eye contact with me and shoved a finger in her mouth before making gagging sounds. Gippal and Lallia gave her dirty looks while I grinned.

"It's such a pity I never managed to meet with you before now. How have you been settling in? What do you think of Djose?"

Gippal didn't actually meet all applicants. Instead, when he had a project he didn't want to work on, he threw himself into being the most annoying back seat driver boss _ever_ and did the interviews, _along with everything else_.

"Oh, I love it here," said Lallia, in that smoky porn star voice she saved up special for pretty boys. "Although, it is a bit . . . colder . . . than I'm used to."

"I've always found sharing a bed is very . . . warming," he said.

"Yeah, okay, gonna break in before you two start humping like rabbits on the table. Gip, I looked over those blueprints and made a couple of modifications but we should start work on a prototype soon."

He dragged his eyes away from Lallia's cleavage and focused on me. "Yeah, okay. Oh! I almost forgot. Yuna's on the comm."

"What! Why didn't you tell me that before you started the flirtathon? Gippal. If that call was for something important, you're dead," I threatened, finger in his face, one hand on my hip.

He just smirked at me. I glowered and got up, dumping my uneaten lunch and stomping my way to his office.


	6. The Plot Thickens! No, really, it does

A/N: Sorry sorry sorry. If it makes the long pause more understandable, I hit a huge period of burnout after NaNoWriMo – I literally wrote maybe five hundred words in the entirety of December, then over Christmas break I got my wisdom teeth out and the only thing I would have written would have been a rambling discourse on how pretty that bowl on my desk is, because, ooooh painkillers. I hope this chapter makes up for it, and pay attention, plot is about to start. Oh, and beta hasn't gotten back to me in awhile, but I thought I'd made you all wait long enough, so if you see any stupid errors, that's all me.

Something More

I sat in his chair with a thump and swiveled a couple times, jabbing in the coordinates for Besaid as I whirled passed. Deep inside the comm sphere flickered and then a rat's eye view of the part and parcel of Besaid outside Wakka's tent came up.

I waited until someone – one of the half naked young men I always pretended I wasn't ogling when we were there – came close. Then I pitched my voice low and scratchy, like one of those men in windowless hovers that offer candy to young children.

"Hey," I said. "Hey you. Yeah, you."

The man looked around, startled.

"Down here, numb skull," I said, exasperated. He may have been pretty but he wasn't using the brains his mother gave him. Shame, really. It's this thing I have, where I couldn't think lustfully about idiots, and by not looking down when the comm sphere had been there, and in frequent use for over a year, he labeled himself one.

He finally looked at me, peering into the depths of the sphere.

"Rikku? That you?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes – I've been told it's a rather confusing effect, what with the spiral pupils and all. "No, it's some other mind-blowingly beautiful Al Bhed princess. _Yes, it's Rikku_." I almost immediately felt bad, because I knew absolutely nothing about this guy when he actually knew my name, but I shrugged it off pretty quickly. Politics, man. They make you a bit self-centered, and by a bit I mean completely.

"Huh. You wan' me to get Wakka or sumthin'?" he asked, scratching his tan jaw, the island accent dripping from every word.

"Actually, I was calling for Yunie. She there?"

"Nah, man. She left a couple days ago."

"Oh," I said, fighting back disappointment. "You know where she went?"

The man shrugged. "Didn't tell_ me_. Wakka or Lulu might know."

"Could you grab one of them then? Tell them it's me."

I sat back and waited as the man walked away, shouting for Wakka. I _may_ have checked out his ass a little. Just a little!

Where was Yunie? I wondered, And why didn't Gippal tell me she wasn't on Besaid? It would have been impossible for him to miss, no matter how much of the conversation he spent staring at her cleavage.

I blinked as Wakka settled down in a pretzel in front of me. Well, in front of the comm sphere, anyway. You know what I meant. He looked _exhausted_, his skin pale beneath the tan, his face tight and drawn, huge bags under his eyes. It made him look about twenty years older and that just wasn't _right_. Sure, I teased him about being old now that he was a father, but he wasn't supposed to actually _be_ old.

"Hey, Rikku. What's up in Djose?" he asked.

I frowned at him. "What's up in _Besaid_? You look terrible, _Daddy_."

He groaned. "Don't remind me. Vidina's sick, so he's crying all night, every night. Lu's expecting again, and she's got morning sickness and _Yevon_ if that doesn't put her in a bad mood."

"Ouch," I winced. "You knocked her up again? You sly dog you."

"Not like I meant to," he grumbled.

"Yeah, _right,_" I said, believing him completely, and if you believed that I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. "So, Yunie called me and Gippal didn't get her location. Do you know where she went?"

Wakka frowned. "Either Bevelle or Guadosalam, ya? She said something about politics, but to tell ya the truth, I wasn't really listening. Had to burp Vidina."

I shuddered and was immensely glad my uterus still had – and would for a while, fayth willing – its vacancy sign up. Not for the first time was I grateful that back when I was still in the have as many babies as possible nownownow phase I hadn't been able to find a satisfactory man. The fayth know I would've regretted it so much if I _had_ already started popping out the brats.

"Thanks for the info, Wakka," I said. "Give Lulu a hug and kiss from me. Tell her she can call anytime."

"Ya, ya," he said, lumbering to his feet. "Will do. Be careful, Rikku."

"What?" I asked, but he had already walked away. Be careful of what? Political intriguing? Crazed teenage hormones? Exploding from the sheer awesome contained in my petite and lovely frame? Eh, whatever, I'd worry about it later.

I thumbed in the numbers for Bevelle somewhat distractedly, staring at the far wall like it held all the answers to all of my questions. It didn't, of course. In fact, it was a rather unlovely shade of blue, testament to Gippal's color blindness along with his regular old blindness.

The sphere in front of me crackeled, then the commotion of Bevelle filtered through. There were about a hundred people running back and forth, and I was eye-level with their ankles.

I sighed, a magnificent sigh. It hit ten on the put upon scale of sigh measurements. "You," I tried at a priestess.

She rushed by without pause.

"Guy," I tried at a warrior monk, but he passed in a dead run.

Then, miracle of miracles, a skirt I recognized. "Isaaru!" I exclaimed.

The feet stopped and turned towards me. Score, baby! Rikku's rolling sixes tonight!

"Rikku? Is that you?" he asked, squatting in front of the comm. I repressed the desire to roll my eyes at being asked the exact same question twice in such little time. No, it was Yevon reborn! Or worse – Seymour! By the fayth that man was annoying. I mean, you kill a guy once, you think that's it, right? But _no,_ it takes four – five? See, I had to fight the guy each time and I can't even keep track – times we had to kill the prick and every time – _every time_ – he got uglier. He wasn't even that good looking to start with. Of course, that could have been my HATE BEAMS ™ obscuring everything.

Anyway, back on the topic at hand.

"Yeah, hey, Isaaru, would Yunie happen to be around? I wanted to talk with her."

Isaaru frowned. "Now that you mention it, I do think she's here. Would you like me to find her for you?"

I raised both my eyebrows. Was he really that stupid? The sphere I was talking to him through couldn't exactly up and bumble around, now could it? That did make an adorable mental image though. Hee.

"That'd be great, thanks," I said, truing not to sound sarcastic.

Isaaru nodded and stood and I started spinning in my chair. The office looked much better blurred, I decided, because then I wasn't seeing all the paperwork Gippal was likely to fob off on me at the slightest provocation and all the clutter I kept getting the urge to clean up.

Gippal might have been good at blueprints – might being the operative word – but his filing system consisted of two piles: Shit he should've done a month ago, and Shit he should have done a year ago. I'd heard about a mythical third pile (Shit he'd actually done), but no matter my snoopi-_searching_ I'd never seen paper nor sticky note of it.

"Rikku?"

I lurched to a halt and immediately wished I hadn't as my stomach made a desperate move for freedom. Slowly I turned the chair 180 degrees and saw my beautiful cousin's worried face.

"Yunie!" I said, half lying on the desk so I could eye her more closely. As I had suspected, the moment all positive influences – namely, me – were removed from her life she frumped up again. Not all the way back to her summoner days, but gone were the short shorts and cut to the navel halters.

I shook my head. "You're wearing entirely too much, Yunie. You'll never pass for a proper Al Bhed at this rate."

She giggled. "So Gippal gave you my message? I was starting to worry."

"Yeah, he did, as long as your entire message was, 'Rikku, we should talk.' And I had to distract him from my slutty friend with crassness to get that much!"

"Close enough," she said, mismatched eyes sparkling. "But, honey, did you ever think of working for someone more . . . focused? Nooj, for example?"

I snorted. Like I wanted anything to do with that jerk! Although I wouldn't mind getting a closer look at those limbs of his – no! Bad Rikku! Focus on that speech he made at Pops' party! Focus on the humiliation, not the neat mechanical arm and leg! "Doing what?" I asked. "Cleaning out the Moonflow? Teaching newbies? No thanks!"

Yuna shrugged. "Your choice," she said. "But I called about something kind of important slash private. It isn't something we can talk about over the comm. Could you come here for a few days? Week, tops."

I bit my lip. The airship, the selfish part of me keened. The gorgeous airship! I almost whimpered, but I'd never been able to resist my cousin anything so it was totally without thinking when I said, "Yeah, okay. I can be there in, oh, ew, let's say three weeks if I have to walk, a couple days if I can borrow an airship from Gip. Oh – he might insist on tagging along. Would you mind?"

"No, not at all," she said. "In fact, it's better that he comes."

I did not frown or express displeasure in any way whatsoever. It wasn't like Gippal would be sure to taint our reunion in every way possible and ruin everything.

"Oh, sweetie, don't make that face."

Oh fayth. Yuna had her mothering face on. I forced a smile at her and said quickly, "Gotta go. My jackass radar is coming up aces. Gippal's probably harassing someone."

Yunie made to say something, but I was faster, what with being a thief goddess and all, and managed to slap the comm off before she could say another word.

"Jackass radar? Coming up aces? Well, I'm certainly not going to ask how your day's been going _now_."

I closed my eyes and breathed deep before spinning the chair once more. "Gippal!" I said, faking merriment. "I was just about to come looking for you-"

"Can't believe I gave up scoring with your easy friend for this," he muttered, sitting on the corner of the desk.

"Don't worry, Lallia will be there anytime you want her," I said, a bit put out for more than the usual being shunted to the side thing. "Gip, I need an airship."

"Yeah," he said, after sticking his tongue out. "I heard."

"Goody. Oh, just wondering – do you make a habit of spying on all your employees during their private conversations?"

"No," he said, smirking – or would leering be the better word? Either way it was predatory in a Big Bad Lupine sort of way and I was frantically trying to figure out if any of my outfits had red hoods – down at me. "Just the cute ones."

I frowned contemplatively while ignoring the butterflies in my stomach. They were probably the bastard red ones anyway and didn't deserve anymore attention than killing them took. And why were they there, anyway? This was _Gippal_, who had been flirting with anything in a skirt – including me – since he was twelve. "That would explain the hovering," I said, faking bravado. "I _am_ awful cute."

"Not cute enough," he said, leaning back, suddenly all business. "All the company ships are out on jobs. And not jobs I can cancel suddenly either, at least not without knowing what Yuna needs to talk to you about. We do have a hover and a couple motorcycles though, could take some of those."

I grimaced at the idea of spending so much time on a hover or a motorcycle and the problems of getting either across the Moonflow. "Let me call Pops and Brother first, see if I can get one of them to drop us off."

Gippal's face was one more commonly known as Terrified Woman #5 in the horror movie industry.

"Days with your family?" he asked, his voice veering into the upper registers of Only Yevon Damned Bats Can Hear It. "Almost alone? In a confined space?"

He gripped my shoulders and shook me. "They would never find my body!"

"Oh, stop exaggerating," I said, prying his fingers from my shoulders. "Brother likes you. Wait, no, no, he doesn't, he wants you to die an ignoble death. Well, Pops doesn't _hate_ you – but he thinks we're screwing which means he'll take you out back with a baseball bat. You know, all the guys I've been with have escaped that by being really short relationships. You'll be the first, and we aren't even dating! Hah, lucky you. Well, I'll tell the police to look in the closet. Neither of them are very sneaky you know."

Gippal attempted a sneer, but it fell a little flat. Like, jumper from the highest tower in Bevelle without a Valefor to summon flat. "I don't suppose that if I _do_ get beat up I get a pity grope?"

"No."

"Are you sure? I'll have just gotten beaten up for it. Be a pity not to actually do it."

"You do know my old man isn't actually that tough, right? Just fight back."

He gave me a disbelieving glance and shook his head. "Rikku, that's just not the way it works. Besides, if I do, it'll look like a bid for power and when I win I'll be expected to take his place."

I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"So, pity grope?"

"No."

"Please?"

"You know what Gippal? You're right! My Pops will have just turned you into a smear on the floor for no good reason, and it's not like after fifteen years together you haven't gotten a handful now and again. Sure!"

His eye widened. "Really?"

"_No_."


	7. Rain, rain GO AWAY

A/N: Oh, plot, where have you been all my life?

Oh, and reviews? Are love. Seriously. I love getting them. It makes me warm and fuzzy and junk and inspires me like whoa. Hint. Hint. In case I was too subtle. Hint. Also, every ten reviews is a bonus interlude chapter.

Something More

"Yevon damn it!" I shouted. "Motherfucking piece of shit! Your momma was a windmill, you dainty piece of trash!" I kicked the side of the motorcycle once more to make sure it got the point.

"Ya know, I've seen it used a hundred times," came a dry voice from behind me, "but I've never known percussive maintenance to actually _work_."

"Shut up, Gippal," I growled, turning on my heel and stalking towards him.

Neither Pops nor Brother had been able to bring us to Bevelle, so Gippal and I had grabbed a couple bikes, given orders to a couple of peons and set out, all freshfaced smiles and innocence. Well. As – as innocent as Gippal and I could be. But four days into the ten day trip, right after we crossed the Moonflow, my bike started belching thick oily black smoke.

A gear had ground down in the engine mechanism and without a replacement part, or any parts for that matter, the thing wasn't going anywhere. Which left me riding bitch on Gippal's bike.

Yevon-damned bike.

He swung himself onto his bike with a smirk after we pushed mine into the first trees of Guadosalam Forest. Glowering, I hopped on behind him. I grabbed the handles under the seat instead of onto him and said, "What're you waiting for, Gippal? The sun to burn out? Go already!"

"Oh, my dear blond harpy," he cooed. "How I wish to wring your neck."

"It wasn't my sloppy maintenance that put the bike in shit condition, Gip," I told him, then added, rather kindly, in my opinion, "You're gonna have to fire someone."

He snorted and gunned the bike, the wind drowning out his nest words – something I was extremely grateful for.

We puttered into Guadosalam a few hours later, somewhere near five in the evening. I got off the bike with a lurch, stumbling into the arms of one of Leblanc's goons. I felt like my legs had turned into . . . well, um, something really stiff, they were so stiff. Leave me alone! I don't do so great with similes, okay?

I heard Gippal snicker behind me and I, _very politely,_ gestured obscenely at him from behind my back. While doing so, I dimpled up at the goon.

"Thanks ever so much for catching me," I said, or maybe cooed would have been a better word. The goons were all madly in love with Leblanc, for some strange, _strange_, reason, but it wouldn't hurt to flirt shamelessly. You never know when you might get a discount for showing a little cleavage. Or just a chance to pick his pockets. I wasn't picky (except when I was. Get it? It's a pun. Picky, pickpocket – No one? _Really_? Fine. None of you have a sense of humor).

Before the goon could say anything, Gippal, the darling, _darling_, boy that he was, had his arm slung over my shoulder, pulling me back against his admittedly broad and muscular chest. Not that I was thinking about his chest, mind you. Because I wasn't. At all. Not even a smidgen.

"I'll have to second that thanks," he said, smirking at the goon and exuding possibly _the_ most masculine and protective aura I had ever had the privilege of witnessing. Please, for reference, keep in mind my brother. Please. "Miss Klutzybutt here trips over her own thoughts sometimes, never mind what's on the ground."

Some eye witnesses might claim that at that point I overreacted and jammed my elbow into his solar plexus, stamped on his foot, then turned and kneed him in the groin before head butting him, but they exaggerate. I never head butted him. His skull was far too thick for it to be of any use anyway.

Either way, no more words were exchanged and I stomped off to the inn on my lonesome. It would take a good five hours to get to the travel agency on the Thunder Plains, and neither Gippal nor I had any desire to attempt the crossing in the dark, so we were spending the night there.

Fortunately, several rooms in the inn were open, Guadosalam not exactly being a tourist's paradise and all, and I booked two of them, telling the innkeeper that the blond cyclops was my companion and should be given his room number and key when he came in before I went to my own room.

I immediately ran a bath. There was nothing quite like traveling a dusty road on an open air, high speed vehicle to get a girl nice and grimy. I sank into the hot water with a blissful sigh and stayed there until the water cooled and I was all pruney.

After I finished my bath I put on my pajamas – they had unicorns farting rainbows on them, and were always one of my favorites, because, _seriously_, unicorns farting rainbows! They were entirely as ridiculous as they sound – and went to see if Gippal had made it to his room alright.

I knocked on the door next to mine and it was yanked open seconds later.

The first thing out of his mouth was, "By Valefor, Ifrit, and all that is holy, you're actually wearing those monstrosities? I only gave them to you as a joke!"

"They're comfy!" I defended and ducked under his arm to enter the room. I flopped on the bed as he stayed by the door, leaning against the wall and staring at me. He had removed his eye patch in preparation for bed and the scar tissue was a jagged x through the socket. "When are we starting out tomorrow?"

"Depends," he said, coming forward and sitting in the tiny chair that all inns seemed to be required to keep in their rooms. "Do you want to spend the night at the travel agency or drive through the day?"

I made a face – I didn't want to do either. I wanted the Thunder Plains to not exist, even if they did make a pretty neat concert ground.

"Through the day," I decided. No use in prolonging the ordeal, after all.

"Alrighty then," he said. "We'll start out at eight or so, stop for lunch and then keep going."

"Sounds good," I replied and flipped over so I was on my back with my head hanging off the side of the bed. My stomach growled loudly in the silence. "Wanna get room service?"

He quirked an eyebrow at me, then reached for his eye patch, pulling it on. "Sure, why not?"

I glanced around the room for a moment, and spotted a small intercom thing. Victory! I did a backwards somersault off the bed, feeling too lazy to bother turning over and wriggling my way off, and danced over to the small metal plate. I examined the buttons, trying to make sense of the writing – I had spent too long with only other Al Bhed, and I was having trouble figuring out the plain old Spiran. Finally the words started to make sense, and I jabbed the button that said Room Service.

"Hi, can I order some food for room one-oh-two?" I paused, listening to the guy talk. "Hey, Gip, whadya want?"

"Huh?" he grunted, startled. "Oh. Sandwich."

"Yeah, that sounds pretty good. Sandwichs please. What types of meat do you have? Beef or chicken, Gip?"

"Beef."

I placed the order, then went back to the bed, flopping down once more. My shirt rode up a little, and I noticed Gippal's eyes lingering on my abdomen, which was a little confusing. I mean, I hardly wore a shirt – okay, let's be honest. I _didn't_ wear a shirt, I wore a bikini top most of the time, at least when I wasn't elbow deep in a machina, so making a big deal of a couple inches of skin seemed a little . . . well, odd. I pulled it down anyway.

Then I flipped over, so I was on my stomach, my hands folded under my chin and my legs in the air behind me. "So," I said, staring at him, "do you have any theories about what Yuna wants from us?"

He shrugged. "Not a clue, but if she wanted the both of us it has to be pretty big. I mean, if she just wanted you, it's cause you're her stupid cousin and she has to make sure you don't kill yourself without her around. If she just wanted me, it's cause she finally realized how hot I am, and is giving into her natural urges. But the both of us? That's a little worrying."

I cringed. "First of all, ew. Yunie has a boyfriend, and it's all romantic and shit and he came back from the dead for her, so you have less than no chance, even if he is a little dumb sometimes. And I am _not_ her stupid cousin! Be serious, Gip. _Obviously_, that's Brother. _I'm_ the cheerful cousin. And I have to keep her from killing herself, not the other way around. Idiot. But you're right about it being worrying. I can't imagine what she needs both of us for. Maybe something to do with the Al Bhed, but Pops would have said something if anything was wrong, right?"

He looked at me skeptically. "Your pops thinks you're still ten and need to be protected from the big bad world. Chances are no, he wouldn't have."

I wrinkled my nose. "Damn, there goes that theory. Well, let's hope that it's nothing too terrible."

There was a knock on the door that Gippal responded to, being both closer and more willing to move than me. It was room service with our dinners still hot from the oven, or whatever they cooked them on. A grill, probably. Whatever, it doesn't matter.

We both dug into our dinner with gusto, too focused on eating to speak for a good while. Of course, all happiness has to end sometime, even the happiness of a perfect sandwich. When we finished I realized I didn't want to leave yet even though there was no more reason for me to stay.

"So-"

"I was thinking-"

"No, you go ahead," we said in unison, then kind of . . . devolved into awkward mumbling until I got fed up and left. Even then, I didn't fall asleep until late into the night.

xxx

We started out early the next morning, way earlier than eight, when the sky was still gray and the sun hadn't even started to think about peeking over the horizon. This time when we got on the bike, I wrapped my arms securely around him, got him to promise to stop if I fell off, and went to sleep.

I woke up a couple hours later, soaking wet under a sky that flashed and cracked and called undeniably to the fear deep in my bones.

Yevon take the Thunder Plain. They deserved one another.

I buried my face in Gippal's back and tried to ignore the rain for the next few hours. Spoiler alert! It didn't work, although Gippal was nice enough to pretend not to notice when I flinched.

We stopped at the travel agency when we got there, even if it was far before we normally ate lunch. I stumbled in, soaking wet, and was surprised to see Rin at the table. Gippal was still outside, parking the bike.

Rin didn't normally visit his agencies. No, he was far too busy being Spira's first and best entrepreneur for that. He especially never visited the Thunder Plains one.

I sat down next to him with a rather horrible wet smushing sound. I wasn't quite sure if I was happy to see him – he was my favorite almost-Uncle, but he also always took Pops' side in our arguments.

"Hello, Rikku," he said pleasantly, not at all showing the disgust _I_ would have, had someone as wet and disgusting as I was at the moment splashed me. "On your way to Bevelle?"

"I'm not gonna lie, Uncle Rin. It is _super creepy_ how you always know stuff like that."

He smiled a little, although I wasn't sure why. "I have many sources. How is your young man?"

My forehead wrinkled as I thought about what – who – he could mean by that. Eventually I came to a conclusion. "You mean – Gippal? He's not my – did Pops tell you we were dating, because you _know_ how credible of a source he is."

Rin did that mysterious little smile again, which he had tailor made just for situations like this, and I _kinda-sorta_ thought that he had had a courtesan or something teach it to him. "No, it was another."

"Well, whatever. He's fine. A bit wet, and a terrible boss, but he hasn't lost anymore limbs since you saw him last, and he's still a huge man-whore. You might want to give him the Talk again, make sure he doesn't forget about all the diseases, and maybe scans the girls for more than just the requirements of pretty, female, and willing."

There was the whoosh of the door opening and slamming. "Hey," Gippal said, dropping to the table with Rin and I. "I have high standards."

"How do you _do_ that?" I asked, staring at him.

He looked at me, eyebrow raised, lips slightly pursed. "I'm a psychic," he deadpanned after a few long moments.

I punched him in the shoulder.

Rin looked between us. "You still claim he is not your young man? Gippal, I'm beginning to believe that you _do_ need the Talk again."

"Whoa," he protested. "I'm fully educated as to what goes where, and all the wonderful, wonderful ways to lead up to that."

"That was not the talk I was referring to."

I snickered a little into my arm, and Gippal shoved a hand into my sopping wet hair, located a big braid, and pulled.

The lady at the counter, possibly one of my distant cousins – the Al Bhed are such a small nation that almost everyone is related, or at least knows each other somehow – coughed something that sounded suspiciously like "Denial" into her arm.

Rin looked at her fondly and I remembered my question. "Hey, Uncle Rin, why are you here?"

"Oh," he said, turning to me. "I'm accompanying Elder Lanaya across Spira. She wants to see what the Eternal Calm has wrought. She's in room two, if you want to see her."

I grinned and leaped up, stumbling over myself in my haste and, using Gippal's shoulder as a crutch until I got my feet properly under me, started towards the back rooms.

I knocked on the door to room two, waiting impatiently for the old woman to give me permission to enter. When she did, I took a few calming breaths, then slowly opened the door. She was sitting by the window and watching the rain and lightning. Her white hair was elaborately beaded, and her green spiral eyes were faded with age.

"Elder Lanaya!" I cried, and immediately prostrated myself. I would never have gone into a bow, let alone one so low, for my father or, for that matter, anyone else, but Elder Lanaya was – well, you gave her respect, was all. She had been a sneeze away from death for my entire life, so old that no one remembered her youth, but she was an iron lady, seemingly kept going on sheer spite. Not that she was mean – or at least she wasn't mean to me. I had seen her beat Gippal around the head with her cane a couple times, but everyone got the urge to do that sometimes, so it didn't count. No, I thought she stuck around just to make rude faces at Sin. The fact that she had started fading – and fast – after Yunie and us defeated him just proved it.

"Rikku," she said, her voice cracked but warm. "It's been a while, girl. Too good to visit your Grandmother anymore?"

I blushed. "No, Elder, that's not – no! I would never think – are you teasing me?"

She cackled and I could see why there were rumors of her being a witch. She was nothing like the _actual_ witches I had met, but dear lord did she meet the stereotypes. "So, girl, have you settled down yet?"

I sat up on my heels, my hands folded in my lap, and rolled my eyes at her. "No, Elder. And I don't want to."

"Really?" she said, laughter in every syllable. "With the way you and the boy have acted towards each other, I was expecting wedding bells years ago."

I heaved a sigh, pretending to be put upon, but getting to see her was just so cool that I didn't even mind that she always – every single time we met, since I was ten years old, at least – told me that me and Gippal should be on our way to the pulpit already. "Gippal's kind of icky, Elder. Don't you know that boys have cooties?"

She tried not to laugh, but I could see the smile twitching at the corners of her mouth, making her wrinkled face almost change shape. "Well, you better see sense soon, or some other lucky girl will snap him up."

"Gippal would have to be willing to _be_ snapped, Elder, and he's a bit too much of a slut for that. Can we talk about something else, now? Why are you traveling Spira now, instead of a couple years ago?"

"Oh, very well, child. I'm traveling now because I heard rumors of a fayth born, and I wished to see for myself whether the ancestors were returning."

"You mean Tidus? You might be a bit disappointed. If you think I'm a bit flighty, well, he's on a whole other level."

She looked at me for a long moment, less startled than pensive. "Hm. Well, I suppose that's a possibility. Nevertheless, it would be intriguing to meet a man made from love."

"You only say that because you haven't met him. He's really not that interesting. Do you know what Yuna wants with me?"

Elder Lanaya raised an eyebrow, amused. "Do you think I know everything, child?"

"Uh," I stuttered, not wanting her to know that yes, yes I did, which is why I never got farther than second base while living at Home.

"Don't worry, it was entirely human sources that told me that it was you who put hair dye in your brother's shampoo."

"Damn it, Gippal, that was supposed to be a secret." I huffed a little. "Does he even know what a secret is? Never mind, I know the answer to that. So, what does Yunie want with me?"

"Even I don't know that, Rikku-child. None of my little birdies were singing."

I pouted, defeated. For the moment, at least. I'd shown a startling propensity for never knowing when to stay down.

There was a knock on the door, then Gippal let himself in, his face dark with – something. He looked angry, but also confused.

"We're leaving," he snapped.

"What?" I protested, rising and turning to face him. "But we haven't eaten yet!"

"I got us some food for the road. We're leaving."

He stomped out, and I reluctantly followed, looking over my shoulder at Elder Lanaya. She shrugged at me, just as confused as I was. As I passed Rin, I stopped. "Do you know what's got him in such a pissy mood?" I asked.

Rin looked at me blandly, but there was something about his posture that screamed _Are you an idiot?_ I'd been on the receiving end of that far too many times not to recognize it. "I said something he found too true to agree with," he said eventually, his voice level and controlled.

I frowned. What? Gippal had never had any problems with denial. Except about the fact that he wasn't _actually_ the center of everyone's universe, since that was obviously me, but everything else he took in stride. Huh. This would require prying. And probably a delicate hand. But mostly prying. I trotted out the door after him, back into the constant rain, and hopped on the back of the bike, wondering just how I'd get it out of him.


	8. And never come back

A/N: This is unbetaed, because my beta can't use her computer right now. Ignore any egregious errors. If I haven't responded to your reviews, sorry! I read them all, and appreciate them all, but sometimes I don't have time to respond immediately, and then I don't remember if I have or not, but I really enjoy getting them.

Something More

After a miserable two hours with only myself talking I got fed up. Not because I didn't love hearing myself talk because I totally did, but because there was this horrible, oppressive wave of ~_silence_~ billowing off of Gippal, and it kind of made me want to kill stuff.

"Pull over," I told him. He ignored me, so I contemplated for a good, long while. Was I really childish enough to -? Yes, I decided. Yes, I was. With that thought I, with all gravitas and dignity, stuck my finger in my mouth, got it thoroughly saliva covered, and jammed it in his ear.

I'm not sure what Gippal's next words were, exactly, but there were a lot of them, none of them fit to be repeated in any sort of company, polite or not. I was raised by sailors and I still didn't know most of them. It was impressive, really.

Needless to say, he pulled over promptly, parking us neatly under the one lightning tower with a roof. That whole only having one of them didn't make any sort of sense to me at all. Why just the one? Did they run out of funds after building it? Did they just decide they wanted to be sadistic? Who knows?

He turned to me, rage turning his eye dark. "What is your _problem_, woman?" he snarled.

I crossed my arms. "You," I said, my hackles going up. "You yanked us away from the only shelter for hours without even giving time to eat and you won't explain why."

He looked down, running a hand through his hair, a nervous tick I had thought he was over. "I just . . . had a disagreement with Rin, okay?"

"No, not okay!" You and Rin can't be in the same room as each other dor more than five minutes. I get that. Hell, I even get _why_, but you do _not_ get to interrupt a conversation with Elder Lanaya because he got your panties in a twist!"

For a moment I thought he was going to hit me, and I tensed to fight, but he forced himself to relax. "Sorry," he muttered. "I know how important talking with the Elder is to you."

At that I relaxed too, and dropped to the ground. "As long as you know. Let's eat."

He smirked and ruffled my hair on his way to the hover. I tripped him in retaliation and by the time I remembered how hungry I was we were both completely covered in mud and I was sitting on his back, victorious.

"Hah!" I crowed. "No dress sphere required, Blondie!"

He snorted into the mud. "I let you win."

I laughed at that, then drove my elbow into his spine before jumping off him. "So, you gonna tell me what got you so upset?" I asked as I tried to brush myself off. I really only ended up smearing the mud into me more.

"Nah," he said as he stood. "I think I'll let you guess." He finished getting the food and tossed me a traveler's pack of food.

I made a face, because those things are _nasty_, then ripped open the packet and set in. The dish had at some point been rice with chicken and vegetables but it seemed to have metamorphosed into a brick over the years. With a great deal of effort I broke some off and began to chew.

This was going to take a while.

I glanced over at Gippal. He was leaning against the lightning tower with his eye closed.

He looked almost . . . peaceful even covered in mud and working at the inedible faux food as he was.

And there were the damn butterflies again.

"See something you like?" His amused voice snapped me out of my reverie.

I blushed for no good reason. "Just wondering if your 'steak' is any better than my chicken and rice," I lied.

"Uh-huh," he said. "And I'm a High Summoner. It's not, by the way.  
My face went even redder. "Yeah, whatever, Gip. I'm not hungry anymore. Let's get out of here."

He smirked at me. "Your wish is my command, princess. You wanna drive?"

I brightened and got to my feet. "Do I ever!"

With me at the wheel it only took another hour to leave the Thunder Plains. Mainly because I drove at twice the speed Gippal did and trusted my cat-like reflexes to dodge obstacles in time. Okay, that was a lie. I knew the ground really well from that week I spent camped out here. Gippal hadn't done anything remotely like that, so the low visibility screwed with him more.

I stopped the bike a few yards into Macalania Forest and pulled Gippal off the bike, laughing. Just another half hour of driving through the most beautiful place in Spira and we would be there.

When I hugged Gippal, he stiffened. Startled, I drew back. "What's wrong?"

He tried to smile. It didn't work too well. "Nothing. Why do you ask?"

I made a face at him. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I'll just assume it has to do with what Rin and you talked about."

He shrugged. "You'd even be right."

I bit my lip, and paced around the small clearing a couple times, then stopped in front of him. I jabbed my finger into his chest, and glared into his eye. "What did you two talk about?"

"I'm not going to tell you that," he said, smirking down at me. He sounded far, far too calm considering how he had stormed out of the rest stop.

"Yes, you are, or we won't be moving from this spot."

His smirk got wider. "You think you can stop me?"

I rolled my eyes. Why was he being such an idiot lately? "I think I've adequately proven that I'm totally capable of bending you over and making you call me Mistress. Keeping us in one place is no big deal."

He chuckled. "Uh-huh. Well, I'm not the one in a hurry to meet your cousin, so I don't mind. Nice scenery here anyway." He stared directly at me, and I shivered.

"Don't be a creep, Gip. Tell me what you two talked about," I wheedled, putting my hands behind my back and looking up at him with bug doe eyes.

He slung an arm over my shoulder and led me back to the bike. "When are you going to accept that that's not going to happen?"

"I'm not," I said stubbornly. "Come on, just tell me. I won't leave you alone until you do, and you _know_ how obnoxious I can be."

I felt him flinch. "Yeah, you can be pretty annoying when you put your mind to it. And even when you don't put your mind to it. Come to think of it, you're pretty annoying all the time."

"Oh, and you're one to talk," I snapped, sitting on the bike with my arms crossed.

He smiled at me cajolingly. "The sooner we get to Bevelle, the sooner you can spend time with other people."

I huffed, and turned to drive. His hands were warm on my bare waist, and I had been driving for ten minutes when I realized that I still hadn't gotten him to tell me what he and Rin had argued about. Damn it.

Well, I'd get it out of him later. At that point I really just wanted to see Yunie and Baralai and Paine. It would be a whole Gullwings reunion! It would be fun. Probably. Okay, Paine would probably make fun of me and I would lose a ton of respect points, and I would feel like Baralai was laughing at me the entire time, and Yunie would try not to take sides at all, and Gippal would be Gippal, so who knows how he would act, and oh, this was starting to look like it would end poorly.

Never mind. This wouldn't be fun at all.

When we – I – pulled into the bridge to Bevelle, there was Yunie, waiting for us. I hopped off the bike and ran to her, hugging her tightly. Gippal followed behind me, slow and pretending to be dignified. Some how he figured Yunie hadn't found out what an idiot meanie face he was and he still had a chance to make a good impression. He was totally wrong, of course, but that didn't mean I wasn't happy that he was on his best behavior.

I spun Yunie around, then let her pull me up the bridge. Had to say this, but once my cousin got out of ankle length skirts she learned how to run. An incredibly girly run, but it got some good speed.

When we got all the way up, Gippal plodding along somewhere behind us, Yuna kept going, through the gates and all the way to her little room. It was a nice room, almost as nice as the praetor's. It pretty much had to be, her being the only living High Summoner and all.

She locked the door after us, and I flopped down on her bed. "What's going on, Yunie?" I asked, staring up at her.

She leaned against the closed door, her eyes sparkling, a small smile on her face. "Well, that's a question with a really long answer." She bit her lip. "Will Gippal be too upset at us ditching him?"

"Eh." I waved my hand. "If he is, he'll get over it. He probably won't be. But you gotta know, he's got, like, super senses. Every time I try to have a private conversation he just . . . pops up behind me. It's seriously starting to creep me out."

Yunie frowned. "Huh – that kind of reminds me of what happened with me and Tidus. Do you think he likes you?"

"Of course he likes me, Yunie. Don't be stupid," I said, rolling my eyes. "Everyone likes me. It's impossible not to."

"Yeah, okay," she muttered under her breath. "I see why he wanted my help, now."  
"What?" I asked, sure I had heard wrong.

"Nothing, " she said. "So, I called you down here because I need your help. Well, kind of. It's something I can't deal with alone, at least."

"Yeah, no problem," I said, cracking my knuckles. "Who do you want me to beat up?"

She gave me that sad, tolerant smile she reserved for when I said something especially stupid. "Rikku, this isn't a problem that can be solved with fighting."

I snorted. "Yunie, sweetie. Every problem can be solved with fighting. If you think it can't be, you just aren't hitting it hard enough. That's how we dealt with Sin and Vegnagun, after all, and if it worked on those two why wouldn't it work on everything else?"

Yuna sat down beside me, holding my hands in her own. Her mismatched eyes looked deep into mine, searching for something. "Rikku," she said, slowly. "I've been having dreams."

Oh, no. I saw where this was going, and I did_ not_ like it, not one bit. "So, Yunie? Everyone has dreams. Heck, your boyfriend _is_ a dream. Where are you going with this?" I tried really, really hard not to sound shifty.

"The fayth -" she said, her voice trembling just the littlest bit (if there's one thing Yunie had always been good at it, it was wholehearted belief). She swallowed. "The fayth, they are – Rikku, they need our help."

"_Again_?" I asked, incredulous. "You know, for making such big strong aeons, the actual things are a little bit wussy."

She glared at me. "Bahamut – he came to me, a few weeks ago as I slept and he told me that the world, that Spira is – well, bleeding. You know how the Farplane was damaged by Vegnagun? The fayth thought that they could fix it, but they weren't able to. All the pyreflies are escaping. Rikku, that's why there's been so many fiends lately. The dead are coming back."

I cringed. "Yunie, you_ know_ my policy on the Farplane. Can't you and Paine do it?" I didn't want to be a wuss, I really didn't, but my life had just started to settle down, and I was just starting to find a niche that wasn't in Yunie's shadow, and damn it all, why couldn't I just have two years to myself?

"Well, that's the second piece of news. I'm a little bit pregnant."

"You – preg – what?" The whole world seemed to jolt a little bit. Then I smirked. Who would've thought? Yunie, little miss perfect, but not really all that obedient, okay the metaphor wasn't as good as it could have been, pregnant. "And you and Tidus aren't even married yet!" I said, pretending to be scandalized. She smacked me in the shoulder.

"And, Paine – well, she never met the fayth the way we did. She wouldn't understand."

"Yeah, okay," I agreed. "Point. I'll do it. But you owe me! Big time. Also, also, also, I totes call godmother."

"Really?" she said, looking surprised. "I was thinking of making Lulu the godmother."

"Don''t you dare," I said. "All she'll do is teach the poor kid how to be a dominatrix, and we don't need anymore of them in our social circle. Don't tell Paine or Lulu I said that."

Yuna grinned. "Sure. Oh, and your father wanted me to tell you he wants you to get married."

Ugh. The world lurched again, but for a far worse reason. "He can stick it up his ass," I said mutinously, crossing my arms and pouting.


	9. Dr P is in the house

AN: Wow. My pacing is so terrible. The plot is just starting and this is the eighth chapter. This is going to take forever. This was actually done about a week ago, but my beta lost her internet, and I've been too busy to look it over myself.

Something More

After I finished my talk with Yuna, I went to prepare. The first thing I did was go to the store to stock up on potions and food. And then I went to my room to plan. I'd have to go back to Guadosalam, since we weren't sure whether the hole in the bottom of Bevelle still led to the Farplane, or just splatty death and I wasn't going to chance it. That meant I would have to tell Gippal what I was doing, what with the one bike and all. I wasn't sure if he would let me go alone, but figured that I could either sneak away in the middle of the night, or think of something on the way. Hopefully something a little more subtle than pointing over his shoulder and shouting, "Oh no, a raging adamantite!" and running when he looked, but I wasn't picky.

There was a knock on my door.

"Come in," I said, startled out of my almost-trance.

The door opened slowly, and Paine edged in, looking slightly uncomfortable, and totally like a leather queen. "Hey," she said.

I scooted over on my bed and patted the spot next to me. She sat down, her back stiff and her hands in her lap. "So, you finally decided to come see me?" I asked teasingly.

"You've only been here about two hours," she said dryly.

"Oh. Yeah." I paused, then shrugged and continued on. "Well, you should've been there when I arrived."

"Did Yuna tell you what you're needed for?" she blurted out.

I bit my lip. Paine had always been a little sensitive about being the new-girl, and I didn't want to rub it into her face that I was getting to do something she couldn't. "Yeah."

She looked at her lap, confusing me. This Paine was all . . . depressed and stuff. The Paine I knew – Dr. P – would just beat me around the head until I agreed to let her come with me, and let her be in charge while I was at it. "Rikku," she blurted out after a suitably awkward pause. "You're so lucky. She trusts you in a way she never has me."

"Don't be ridiculous," I snapped. "Yuna knows me better but that doesn't mean she trusts me more. She knows you're the responsible one. If you had been there on the pilgrimage, she would have gone to you. But – you didn't see them. You didn't work with them. You don't know them as anything other than mindless beasts. Can't you see that she wanted to go herself? She knows that I know the aeons as well as anyone but a summoner could. That's why I'm going."

Paine looked at me for a long moment. "Heh. When did you grow up?"

I pouted and crossed my arms. "I've been grown up for a long time. But sometimes it's fun to pretend."

"I . . . never thought of it that way. You were only fifteen – I've misjudged you haven't I?"

I smiled, maybe a little sadly. "You wouldn't have been the only one."

"Sorry."

"No, don't apologize! I do a pretty good job looking like a brainless airhead. I'd actually be a little insulted if you saw through it that easily."

She punched me in the shoulder, but gently. Instead of a crippling blow, it was just a slightly bruising one.

We sat there together for awhile before Paine broke the silence. "How do you deal with it?"

"With what?"

"With being in love, but not wanting to give up who you are for it."

I snorted. "Paine, baby -" she growled, letting me know that no matter how mopey and/or remorseful she was feeling, I was still not allowed to give her nicknames "- I'm not in love." She snorted, and I slugged her in the shoulder, dodging her return swipe before continuing. "But, you should never have to give up who you are for someone. If they love you, they'll deal with it, not try to change you. Who is this mysterious someone?"

She coughed out a laugh. "Please, like I'd tell you. Honestly, Rikku, you should know me better. Minus five respect points."

I pouted and crossed my arms. "Paine! We were having a heart to heart! Girl talking! Behaving like people who actually enjoy each other's company! You can't blame me for thinking you were opening up a little. And why didn't you ask Yuna, or Lulu? They're actually in love, and stuff."

"That's the problem," she said. "The men they're with are about as likely to say no to them as a shoopuff is to dance."

I thought about Wakka and Tidus for a moment and couldn't honestly disagree. "But, I don't think Bara – I mean, I don't think your guy wants to change you either."

She glared at me. "You knew?"

I hedged around a little, not meeting her gaze before blurting out, "Paine, everyone knows. You two can't stop making eyes at each other."

"Then why did you ask?"

"I was being polite. Hey, can we talk about something else now? I never really matured out of the boys have cooties stage, and acting like they're all that gives me the willies."

She snorted and ruffled my hair. "What exactly is this task Yuna has you doing, then?" She was just being polite, I knew, especially since she had just been so huffy over it, but I was a little worried, and wanted to vent about it, so I took what I could get.

"It's nasty! She wants me to go back to the Farplane and figure out what's making it all wonky and to fix it! Paine, the only things I can fix have engines and gears! I'm not good with the spiritual stuff! I'm an Al Bhed, for Spira's sake."

"She must trust you a lot, then."

"Oh, fayth, you're right." I buried my face in my hands. "Make her stoo-oop."

Paine chuckled and stood, offering me her hands. I took them and she pulled me to my feet with her freaky strong Amazon warrior chick strength. I mean, I'm no weakling, but Paine could lift me over her head and hold a dignified conversation while doing so.

I followed her out of my room. "Hey, Dr. P, where're we going?"

Paine glanced at me, then away. "You'll find out when we get there."

"Well, gee, that isn't ominous at all."

There was a hint of a smirk curving her lips, then it flitted away.

"It's nothing bad, right?" I tried.

Again the little flitting half-smile. That was a bad sign. A bad, bad sign. Panic mode initiating in . . . three . . . two . . . one - "Help!" I screamed, flailing. "I'm being abducted! Someone help!"

Paine snorted, covering her face with her hand. Several passers-by stared at me, shook their heads, and continued. "Rikku," she said, her voice clipped.

I continued to flail. I explained in a high pitched shriek, "They need to know, Paine! When they find my body in a ditch tomorrow, they need to know that you were the last person I was with!"

She heaved a world weary sigh. "Rikku."

"Ahhhh!" I continued, then ran up to a passing monk. "Help!"

He glanced over my shoulder at Paine, and I assumed she shook her head or something, because he just pried me – me! The most beautiful girl undergoing an abduction at that moment! – off of him and kept walking. I crossed my arms and pouted for a moment, tapping my foot, then started to wave my arms wildly again.

"Rikku!" she shouted, sounding sincerely annoyed. I flinched, then slunk back to her, having a whole lot of eye contact with the floor and not much else.

"I'm not going to kill you," she said. "Much as I occasionally want to. Stop worrying."

I didn't protest after that. Or at least, I didn't protest until we stopped in front of a door I didn't recognize and she pulled out a blindfold. At that point I started protesting pretty vigorously. I didn't even bother wondering where she had kept the blindfold in that leather suit of hers.

"Oh, shut up," she said, and tied it around my eyes almost viciously tight.

"Owwie," I whined, making sure to make my voice gratingly annoying. If she got to blindfold me, I got to annoy her.

She snorted once more, then put both her hands on my shoulders pushing me in front of her, gently turning me at some points. Finally, she pushed me into a chair and took off the blindfold.

I gasped. "This – how – you _guys_!"

Yunie blew a noisemaker. "We – well, I – thought we should throw you a going away party, since you're going to the Farplane and all."

I smiled. It was the only think I could do. It was one of the lamest parties I'd ever seen – although the one Kimarhi threw for Lian and Ayde still beat it – but it's the thought that counts, right? And besides, they had somehow managed to force Baralai into a party hat, which pretty much made everything about a million times better, especially since he looked so confused about it.

"Oh, and Gippal has something to tell you," Paine added, when it looked like Yuna wouldn't be saying anything more.

Shit. Gippal was here? There went my chances for sneaking away without him.

Wait. What did he want to tell me? Did it have anything to do with what he and Rin had talked about? Why was it so important that it had to be done now? _I had to know_. It was like this new goal had totally galvanized me. I jumped out of the chair, kissed my cousin on the cheek, pointed at Baralai and snickered for a second instead of the full five minutes I had planned on, and sought out Blondie.

It . . . it wasn't actually that hard. There were, like, ten people at the party, so I kind of just moved to the back of the room and found him leaning against the wall next to the punch bowl.

I pounced, a magnificent huntress in her prime. I was the predator, and he the prey, and it was time to end the game of cat and mouse. Never mind the fact that the game of cat and mouse lasted approximately a minute, and he never tried to hide at all, it was still time to end it.

He . . . he, um, caught me. In midair, since pouncing wasn't a figure of speech in the least. And I had come up on his blind side, too! I pouted at him until he put me down, laughing softly.

"Shut up," I said mutinously.

He patted me on the head, totally messed up my hair, and kept on laughing.

"Stop it," I said. "Stop it, stop it, stop it." I shoved him in the chest. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

He stopped laughing really fast. Like, lightning fast. It was kind of startling, really, just how fast he shut down. "Nothing."

"Really?" I asked, my eyebrows scrunching together. "The way Paine said it, it sounded kinda important. I think the word for her tone of voice was portentous."

"_Paine_ told you?" he asked, stunned. Under his breath he muttered, "Wow, they must really want me to get a move on."

I jabbed him in the chest. "Get a move on? Gippal, I don't like not knowing things. You know that. _Tell me_," I hissed.

He shrugged and poked me in the middle of the forehead. "I don't like not knowing things either, but I bet you weren't planning on telling me about going to the Farplane, were you?"

I tried not to wince.

He smirked. "I knew it. Well, you aren't going alone."

* * *

We left early the next morning. I fell asleep on his back, and only woke up about halfway through the Thunder Plain. I growled at the thunder and tried to fall back asleep. That was about when I noticed that I wasn't wet. He had put a blanket over me.

I felt those damned butterflies in my stomach start up again. I ignored them and gave him a squeeze. He jerked a little, startled, then patted my hand.

I spent the rest of the ride with my chin on his shoulder, not even complaining about how much my butt hurt. Well, I did once. Maybe twice. Okay, I complained from the time we came in sight of the travel agency until he pulled up at the front door. But other than that I didn't complain.

Everything after that's a blur. I'm pretty sure that Gippal drugged me during lunch, because the next thing I knew I was waking up in a bed in Guadosalam with a killer headache.

"Muurgh," I whined.

The silence of the room echoed back at me.

"Muuurgh," I repeated, louder.

Still no response.

"Gippal, I am going to kill you, and use your skull as a soup bowl!" I shouted.

The guado maid who had just entered stared at me for a second, her mouth open. "I'll, um, I'll just be going now," she said.

"Oh, no no no," I cried, trying to jump out of bed, but getting my legs tangled in the sheets and falling on my face instead. "I'm not normally psychotic. Where's the man who brought me here?"

"The blond with the eye patch? Downstairs. He left you a note on the table, miss."

I looked at the bedside table. It was true. There was a note on it. It said, "Sorry, didn't want to listen to you whine anymore. I'm out making some preparations. Don't go without me." Then, instead of a name, he had left a smiley face.

I gritted my teeth and ripped up the note before disentangling myself from the sheets and flouncing upright. I strutted passed the rather amused looking maid and down the hall, slamming myself into the seat across from him.

"_You_," I ground out from a clenched jaw. It didn't sound as cool as I thought it would. It sounded more like I had injured my mouth somehow, then was being angry.

"Me," he said, grinning. "Oh, and before you start whaling on me, check out what I got for you."

He tossed me a small package. Glaring at him, I opened it. Then I stopped glaring and started whistling, my eyes wide. Hot damn, how had he gotten his hands on a Ribbon?

"You can thank me later," he said, kicking back and putting his feet on the table and his hands behind his head. "When it saves your life."

I started to make a face, but noticed our bags on the ground next to him. I snagged mine, slung it over my shoulder and started out the door. There was a thump behind me as Gippal scrabbled to catch up and I allowed myself a congratulatory smirk.

It only took a couple minutes to get from the inn to the entrance to the Farplane. We stood in front of the shimmering blue gateway for a moment, then I took a deep breath and stepped through.


	10. Poleaxed

As soon as my head passed through the viscous blue barrier the hymn of the fayth and the ethereal, keening, screaming, whistling wind sound of pyreflies filled my ears. I took a few more steps onto the platform and bit my lip. I hadn't ever seen the Farplane before Vegnagun started messing it up, but I knew this couldn't be right from the descriptions I heard from Yunie and Tidus and Wakka and Lulu. There was a crack in the sky – the black, black sky. And I don't mean midnight black that's really blue, I mean black like Seymour's soul, black like the smoke from the burning of home, a black that just immediately raised all the hairs on the back of my neck and practically screamed, "SOMETHING'S WRONG!"

The hymn of the fayth started to echo and refract in the wrong key, like it was being bounced around a glass bowl, strangely discordant and ugly. It set my teeth on edge in a way not even the moon above us, which was the red of a suicide's blood, could. I shivered.

Then my dead started to appear. First my mother ("Mama-" Just a memory, Rikku-girl. Just a memory), then Keyakku, then the other multitudes we lost when Home burnt. I sank to my knees (just a memory, fayth, _please_, just be a memory).

They started to part, my dearly departed. My mother stepped aside last, revealing Auron, just as grumpy and red as the day he was Sent. He offered me his hand and I took it hesitantly, not sure how solid he was. Solid enough to pull me to my feet none too gently, it seemed. Then he nodded and he was gone, they were all gone, it was just me standing on the black, black sky. I fought back the urge to – giggle? Cry?

I heard a giggle and whirled, my boots clacking on nothing.

"We've been waiting." The voice came from nowhere, piped straight into my brain, childish and high, but wise and unspeakably old.

"_Bahamut_," I breathed. I'd never heard his voice before, but Tidus had complained about the forever-child enough that I knew with every fiber of my heretical, non-believing self who it was.

"Yes. You'll help us?"

"I'm not Yuna," I said. "I'm not Tidus, either. I don't know if I can."

He stood in front of me, suddenly there in the way of dreams. I wasn't even surprised to see him. He chuckled, a sound that made my stomach go squiggly in a bad way. Nothing should sound like that. Nothing should be so full of contradictions – old and young, alive and dead, holy and damned, and _oh_, why couldn't they rest? We'd already done so much – but who was I to whine? I knew what I was.

"You don't need to be anyone else, just yourself. Look in the shadow of the moon."

"Wait-" But I was already back on the platform, collapsed on my hands and knees. Gippal was kneeling in front of me, a hand on my shoulder.

"Cid's Girl, you okay?"

"Ngh. Peachy keen."

He helped me to my feet. "Hate to sound like a mother hen, but what happened?"

I waved a hand at him, the heel of the other against my head. "Nothing special, if you know the people I do. Saw Bahamut and the dead, nothing important."

He stared at me for a moment. "Yeah, okay, so did you scramble something coming in here, or have you always been crazy?"

"Oh, right! You don't know about Tidus and Yuna. Wow, I must sound like a raving lunatic -" I broke off, eyes wide, and pushed past him.

My mother opened her arms and I stepped into them. For just being a memory, she felt so _good._

Then I swear she whispered, "I love you," before exploding into pyreflies.

And there was Auron and Uncle Braska and Jecht.

"Hello Rikku. How's my daughter?"

"Pregnant," I said. "How's my aunt?"

He smiled. "Happy. We both are. Worried too." He faded, and the image of Auron got stronger, richer, more alive.

Jecht rubbed the back of his head. "I guess you just told me how the boy is, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Good. That's . . . good." He too faded, and there was only Auron.

"You'll have to move quickly. I can't hold it for long." He gestured to a spiraling path behind him made from air and hope.

"Oh goody." I bit my lip.

"Go, Rikku."

"Righty-oh, sir! C'mon, Gip." I crouched and jumped, landing firmly on the slick path. It was like being back in Macalania Forest and I took off running, trusting Auron and my instincts to keep me from falling to a horrible splatty death.

A few seconds later Gippal's footsteps joined mine, slower and heavier, but there. It was remarkably comforting, not being alone.

At one point I took a curve too fast and nearly skidded off the path, but I heard Auron grunt and I slammed into a clear barrier that came up to my chest. Gippal swore behind me, but I just grimaced and kept going. We were nearly to the ground, just another hundred or so feet to go, and I could see the places we had already passed on the path fading out of existence. Not knowing how much longer Auron could keep it up made me nervous.

A few minutes later I stumbled into the dried grass and wilted flowers, my legs burning. I sat and waited for Gippal to finish coming down the last twenty feet. When he was about five feet from the bottom the path flickered and disappeared. He fell and landed on his feet, though inelegantly.

Auron popped into being, his face strained and pained. "Go," he said. "We're losing too many."

"What do you mean?" Gippal asked.

Auron didn't say anything and then it was Braska standing in front of us. He too looked strained. "It's hard to stay here. The Farplane is . . . broken. We're being sucked out." He looked at me. "It's hard to watch friends die a second death. Close the break, Rikku. You must, or the dead will never rest again."

Then he was gone.

I looked at Gippal and tried to laugh. It came out a bit shaky. "Bet you didn't know this is what you were signing up for, huh?"

He rolled his eye and tousled my hair before helping me up. "Where too?"

I looked around. In every direction, the plants of the Farplane were wilted and dying. Nothing looked inviting, but the waterfall at least looked different, so I started walking in that direction.

We walked until we were tired. With no sun to guide us, we just stopped when we felt like stopping. Periodically, pyreflies would coalesce and become twisted fiends, the dark twins of many I had faced while wandering Spira. They were bigger, uglier, and a whole hell of a lot harder to kill, too. When we finally gave up for the day, we were both spattered in fiend grime.

* * *

It happened when we were setting up camp. He was about ten feet away from me, starting a fire when it loomed up behind him.

It was giant and twisted and dark – the Behemoth's ugly cousin, and how did it get so close -

I was already moving when it reared back, one paw ready to slap Gippal top over teakettle. I was already pulling out my daggers and sprinting when he started to turn at the hot sound of its breath. I had never moved so fast in my life, but I was still – too – slow -

Without thinking, I leapt. My daggers sunk deep into its chest and it _roared_.

Gippal screamed behind me and I twisted the blades, ripping muscle, freeing blood, I wanted it to diediedie – it grabbed me with one paw the size of my torso and flung me, my hands slipping from the hilts of my blades, deep gashes opening on my ribs where its claws cut in and then – impact. I slid a couple feet through the tall grass and flowers, every image turning to smears of color, like a five year old's finger painting and then

everything

went

BLACK.

* * *

Snatches of consciousness teased me.

* * *

"Oh fayth, oh fayth, Ifrit, Valefor and Ixion, _don't leave me_, please, ple-"

* * *

A feeling of warmth and pressure. A brief burst of light against the dark of my eyelids.

* * *

"Come on, you can make it, you're -"

* * *

A trickle of water on my desert dry lips. I coughed and hacked and finally swallowed. That time I stayed awake long enough to see a worried green eye.

* * *

"_Rikku_-" His voice was hoarse and frantic, but he said my name with such care that it sounded like a lover's croon.

"Gippal?" I asked, his face swimming in front of me. There were two of him, and that was far more than necessary, now wasn't it? I blinked, and there was just the one. Much better.

"Oh, fayth, Rikku -" He broke off and took a deep breath. "You scared me," he said accusingly when he had collected himself.

"I've had worse," I wheezed. There was a tight pressure around my ribs and I tried to sit up to look at them. Gippal helped me to a seated position, his hand warm and steady on my back. Bandages, rusty with blood, covered me from shoulder to waist.

"You've had worse with an accomplished white mage nearby to heal you," he scolded. "You were out for five hours."

"Ick," I said. "Did you kill it?"

"Yeah. When it dissolved it left a – fayth, Rikku, I thought I'd lost you."

I smiled sleepily at him. "You called me Rikku."

He managed to look embarrassed and annoyed at the same time, although I'm not sure how, exactly.

"Well, it's your name, isn't it?" he grumbled.

"Yeah. I like the way you say it," I mumbled. Then, and I'm not proud of this part, I started to fall asleep on his chest without making any inappropriate jokes whatsoever!

* * *

The first thing I saw when I woke up was Gippal's ass. He was crouched over the dying fire, trying to coax it back to life. I didn't see any reason to look away. It was a nice ass.

For some reason I thought it necessary to inform him of that. I nominate blood loss.

He turned to face me, rolling his eye. I propped myself up on my elbows, wincing as the motion pulled at the scab on my ribs.

Now that I was coherent I switched to White Mage dress sphere and cast a couple mid-level cure spells on myself. I'd never spent enough time in White Mage to learn Curaga, something I was regretting at the moment.

Since the spells came so late I found four shiny scars around my ribs and stomach when I unwrapped the bandages.

Gippal stared down at me with a face like a rainy day. "We need to talk," he said.

"Nothing good ever starts with those words," I joked, trying to make him smile.

It had the opposite effect. He glowered and sat down across from me. "Cid's Girl – no,_ Rikku,_ this -" he gestured at the new scars "has made me realize that there's something I really need to tell you." He took a deep breath. "And I've been meaning to tell you - okay, no, I haven't, but I realized a few days ago, but this has been going on for a long time, and I'm babbling, but Rikku, I love you."

"I know," I said slowly. He had obviously gone totally bonkers. "I love you too."

"No-" He ran his hands through his hair, then dragged one down his face. "I don't mean 'I love you' as a friend, or a brother. I mean, I love you, like in those dreams – _nightmares_, I mean – where I'm settled down with a wife, and a house, and 2.5 kids, it's with you. I see you when I think of the future. Just you."

I reeled. I blinked. I gaped like a particularly dimwitted fish. I did pretty much everything but reply intelligibly. Finally, I managed to whisper, "Me?"

"Yeah," he said, shifting uncomfortably. "You."

"Gippal-" and why did his name sound like an apology? "I'm – I don't – um."

"Too heavy?" he asked.

I nodded frantically. "I mean, we broke up years ago because you – _neither of us_ was ready for real commitment. Are things so different now?"

He shrugged. "I am. I don't want to get married and have kids for a while, but I know who I want to do it with."

I bit my lip, or really, started gnawing on that thing like it was the root of all my problems. Then I leaned forward and kissed him, slow and soft and long. It sent a tingle from the tips of my toes to the roots of my hair. When I pulled away he looked like a drowning man.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I love you, too." And I did, I realized, in a way that went beyond familial affection and animal attraction. "But, I just . . . can't. Not right now. You understand, right?"

His face fell. He wouldn't meet my eyes. "I understand."

"No!" I cried, frustrated. "It's just – _now, _in the Farplane I can't do this. I can't be worrying about a relationship when I should be worrying about the fayth. After this is done I'll be more than happy to date you again. Fayth, Gippal, I'd love too."

A smile I wasn't sure I was entirely comfortable with spread across his face. "In that case, Cid's Girl, once we rejoin the lands of the living do you want to get dinner?"

"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, I'd like that. But stop calling me Cid's Girl. I have a name."

He grabbed my chin and kissed me, letting go only when I wasn't quite sure which way was up. "Think of it as a reminder for me to keep from doing that all the time."

"Muh," I said, intelligently enough. Why did I want him to not do that all the time, again?

He patted me on the shoulder and stood, then pulled me to my feet. "Where to?"

"Uh." I closed my eyes to think. "Bahamut said there was a place under the shadow of the moon that would tell us what we need to know."

He stared at me like I had grown a second, less attractive head. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Damned if I know. The moon's up there – maybe there's a place it doesn't shed light?"

He shrugged, but it was the best idea either of us had, so we broke camp and set out.

The entire time I had the niggling feeling that I had forgotten something. Something important.

* * *

A/N: . . . Wham?


	11. Scruff McHobo

It was hard to tell time on the Farplane. The sky was always black, the moon was always red, and neither of us had worn a watch. So it was hard to tell how long we'd been walking. All I knew was that my new scars were aching and it hurt to breathe. The knee high grass seemed unbearably sharp and irritating as it brushed my legs, and the sky was looking more and more evil every time I blinked.

I stopped. I swayed. I made intimate acquaintance with the ground.

"Cid's Girl, what's taking you – why are you on the ground?" Gippal's feet came to a stop just in front of my nose.

"Caaaaaarry me," I whined, slightly muffled by having my face in the dirt.

He sighed and sat down next to me, cross legged. "No, you're heavy."

"You calling me fat?" I asked, mock-surly.

"Yup. You're a lardass," he said.

I summoned an immense amount of energy and flopped onto my side, instead of my face. Glaring at him, I spat a couple braids out of my face and said, "Like you're one to talk, Mr. Eats-All-The-Cookies. How many times did my pops pull you out of the icebox?"

"That's different," he said, sticking his nose in the air and crossing his arms. Mm, nice ar – I MEAN, LOOK AT THAT, GIPPAL BEING A JERK. Um. Yeah. I wasn't – I don't – um. Never mind. Nothing going on here, officer, nothing at all. Promise. Scout's honor. All that jazz.

Trying furiously to keep my blushing under control, I said, "How?"

"Well, for starters I was – are you _blushing_?"

"No! Why would you think something like that, idiot?"

He grinned, and I swear to all the gods I don't believe in _I saw pure evil_. "Cid's Girl. Babe. I _love_ your outfit, don't get me wrong, but when all you wear on top is a bikini, I can see exactly how far down your blush goes."

That didn't help the blush situation at all. So, as an extremely well-adjusted individual who always has plans, I immediately found a counter for that . . . _that_. Surliness. "Yeah, well, it's your own damn fault," I snapped, crossing my own arms, and tossing my hair as best I could. Because everyone knows that aggressive, uh, ness always makes people back off.

"_My_ fault? How is _your_ blush my – oh. Ooooooh."

Except, apparently, when it doesn't. His grin got about ten times more evil, something I didn't even think was possible.

"Cid's Girl, I'm appalled at how cruel you are. Seeing only my body? I feel -" He sniffed, loudly. "So very objectified."

"Oh, shut up," I groaned, rolling over so my back was facing him. Then I tried to focus on getting the blush to go down. Seeing how hot my face still felt, it didn't work out so well.

"Aw, come on, Cid's Girl," he wheedled. I could _hear_ the smirk. "You know I'm just kidding. Feel free to objectify me as much as you like, Yevon knows I do it to you."

I flipped over again, mouth hanging open. "You _what_?" I half-shrieked. Actually, judging by the pained look on Gippal's face it wasn't a half-shriek.

Have to hand it to the man, he could recover pretty damn quick. "Cid's Girl. You wear a bikini and a skirt that really barely qualifies as more than a belt. You honestly didn't expect me and every other guy – and a few girls – on Spira to look?"

"I – I -" I fumbled, face burning. I'm pretty sure I discovered a new color of red, or at least a new application for a color previously unobserved in people. "I overheat, okay!" I blurted, trying desperately to protect my dignity. "It allows me to move fast! When I wear this people aren't looking after their wallets as well!"

"Ah-hah!" he crowed. "I knew it! I knew you had to know!"

"Had to know what?" I asked, suddenly curious, and way eager to get the spotlight off of me.

"The effect yo-ooour outfit has. I mean, if you were cuter, it would be even more distracting, but that much skin showing on anyone – well, it's distracting."

"I'm adorable, and you know it," I huffed. "I _am_ adorable, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, Cid's Girl. Stop fishing for compliments. Can you walk yet?"

"Don't feel like it," I whined. "I did get beat up by a Behemoth, you know."

He prodded me in the shoulder. "It was _not_ a Behemoth. For one, it didn't do that horrible crashy death spell when it died."

"Psh, same difference. Can we not move for a while longer?" I asked.

He started to reply, then looked at me. "Yeah, okay," he said. "You look pathetic enough."

I considered making him eat his words but was to tired and sore to bother, so I just rolled over and went to sleep while Gippal set up camp around me.

* * *

I woke up to the smell of sausage. Sitting up, I looked around blearily until I located the source of the amazing smell. Gippal sat at the fire, watching the sausages cook. I stood and walked over to him, sitting down next to him and almost immediately sticking my face closer to the pan.

"Have I told you I love you?" I asked him, inhaling deeply. "Because I totally do. I want your babies, Gippal. Mm, that smells wonderful."

"You just want me for my cooking," he said, pretending to be hurt. "I know how it is."

"Gasp!" I exclaimed. "You've figured out my dastardly plan! Whatever shall I do?"

"I suppose you'll just have to eat up," he said, handing me a plate with a couple sausages on it.

There was a short moment of silence while we both concentrated on eating. As engaging as I found Gippal, well, I get hungry. It's a trait we have in common.

Shortly after we finished breakfast we set out. We talked as we walked, saying nothing important, until I glanced at him and realized something. He was getting stubbley, but only in patches.

"Gippal," I said, stopping. "You can't grow a beard, can you?"

Before I started cackling in glee, he glared at me. "If I had a beard, I would look ridiculous."

"Yeah, but that's not why you don't. You literally can't can you?"

"No," he said, grudgingly. "I can't. I would appreciate it if you didn't spread that around."

"Oh, of course," I said, planning to tell everyone I saw the second we got out of the Farplane.

"Hmph."

With that beautiful response from the scruffy hobo we fell into a comfortable silence. After a little while I caught myself glancing at his lips. I blushed and hoped he hadn't seen me. So. Getting back together with Gippal. At some point. I was pretty sure I'd never had a worse idea. I mean, yeah, I liked him. A lot. No question about that, but, fayth, we would destroy each other. It was like a rule of the universe: Yuna's perfect, Paine's grumpy, Gippal and I don't do successful relationships.

I blew a braid from my face. What the hell, I'd never listened to common sense before.

* * *

"Gippal, I'm tiiiiiired," I whined.

He closed his eye and I could see him counting to ten. "Yes, Cid's Girl. You've told me. Multiple times."

"Can we stop? Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

He looked toward the waterfall, visible even from this far. It was about another five hours walk, best I could estimate, and I was, to put it politely, less than willing to keep walking.

It wasn't just that I was a horrible lazy person – I did this on the pilgrimage and with the Gullwings too. I had just as good stamina as everybody else, but everybody I've traveled with is of the type to walk until they fall down from exhaustion. That's not a good method, if you didn't realize, so I acted as the brakes for the group. Everyone could use me as an excuse when they were tired without losing face.

Either that or I was a horrible lazy person trying to justify being a horrible lazy person. It's really up in the air.

He gave up with a sigh after a few more meaningful glances from waterfall to me. Success!

That "night" after we ate, I fell asleep on Gippal's shoulder. It wasn't romantic, I promise. I probably snored and drooled, and made the most unattractive noises in the world.

It's just that, when I woke up, his arm was over my waist and I was snuggled into his chest and it seemed pretty damn romantic. But, um, it wasn't. And all that stuff, because come on, me and Gippal? Not exactly taking the number one couple spot from Yuna and Tidus any time soon.

* * *

When we got to the waterfall, Valefor was standing out in the air, where the water turned to mist. She was a small brunette with warm eyes and my heart panged for Yuna's first and sweetest summon.

"Hello, Rikku," she said. Her voice was sad, but not in a dramatic woe-is-me-the-world-is-ending sort of way, in an understated, no-you-go-enjoy-yourself-while-I-brood sort of sad.

"Hiya," I said, feeling like I was talking to my mother again. It was soft and fuzzy and warm, and I wanted to be smothered in her kindness.

She couldn't have been crueler if she tried.

Her dark eyes flitted to Gippal. "Do you understand your role?" she asked him.

His face went tight and pinched, but he sounded casual, like he was ordering breakfast, or commenting on some girl's ass or something. "Abso-posi-you better believe it."

Something in me clenched at the words I had last heard before he fought Vegnagun, when everyone but Yunie was still convinced we would all die horrible painful deaths.

I'd missed something. Something big, and not in a huge zit way, in a oh-Yevon-the-maesters-are-all-dead-help-help-gurgle-die way.

"Gippal?" I whispered, jabbing him in the ribs with a bony elbow. "What's she talking about?"

He ignored me completely, not even looking at me, and with a huff I turned back to Valefor. "What now?" I asked.

"I take you to the damaged area. After that, it's all up to you."

She was being cryptic. Great. Just what I needed, an utterly meaningless statement. "How will I fix it?" I asked, trying to be patient. It was never a strong suit of mine, patience.

If she had looked sad before, the only word to describe her expression at that moment was gut-punchingly agonized, but in a dignified way.

For a second my priorities got away from me and I was jealous. I just got blotchy and teary when I was sad, with nothing dignified about it.

"Gippal will tell you when you arrive. I will take you there now."

She stepped forward, feet not quite crushing the dead grass, but instead going through it – it was weird. Valefor reached out to take my hand, but frowned at the contact, releasing me quickly. "I cannot," she said, eyes narrowing. "You are his. This is . . . most odd. He has not claimed anyone for many hundreds of years."

"He who?" I asked, my hand finding Gippal's all by itself. His grip was crushing and painful and reassuring and I squeezed back just as hard.

"He was an Al Bhed, once. That may be why he claimed you." Valefor sounded pensive and thoughtful and I half expected her to say something like, "curiouser and curiouser," but of course she didn't. "Well, it certainly changes things," she continued.

"He who?" I repeated, frustrated.

Gippal bumped me, maybe to remind me to be polite, but damn this all, I had braided beads into Valefor's mane of feathers as she preened under my hands on the pilgrimage, I could talk to her however I pleased.

"We've forgotten what his name was," she said apologetically. "But before his temple was lost, he was called Phoenix."

The Phoenix. She was right. This did change things.

I knew the Phoenix. Every Al Bhed did. We told stories of him, the man who so loved a Yevonite that he became a fayth, an aeon that could give life to the summoner at it's own expense.

His love failed anyway.

Then, to add insult to injury, the Yevonites forgot him and he was buried in the drifting sands of Bikanel. Not even we knew where he was buried. Gippal had been half-heartedly searching for him while the digs went on, never expecting to find anything. We all kind of thought he was a myth, at that point. It was rather disconcerting to find out otherwise.

I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. "What does it mean, that he chose me?"

"It means, little summer child, that you shall rise from your own death, just the once. You'll want to meet him."

* * *

Oh, God, so sorry, please don't hate me everyone. If anyone's still reading this. This isn't even a super long chapter to make up for it. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was trying to write a thing from Gippal's POV to explain his actions last chapter, but something about Gippal constipates my writing. I'll try and finish it as an incentive or something, later.


	12. Up the sparkly glass road

AN: I'm going to blame this on finals. All of it – the lateness, the draaaaaaama. Everything is finals' fault. I'm not that happy with how this is turning out, but I just wanted to update.

* * *

She was absolutely right. I wanted nothing more than to meet the closest thing we had to a saint. "Where is he?" I asked.

"Far," she said. "I will bring him to you. You would be unable to find him yourself."

"Okay," I said. "What should we do while you do that?"

"Wait. Rest. Prepare yourself for what is to come."

"What's to come?" I asked angrily, rising to the balls of my feet, trying to get into her face.

The pressure of Gippal's fingers around my wrist forced me back and I grudgingly subsided.

She closed her eyes and exploded into pyreflies, one of them going straight through me. It felt like having a bucket of ice water dumped over my head. I shuddered and turned to Gippal, burying my face in his shoulder.

"What was she telling you?" I asked him. "The whole, you know your part dealio?"

"Oh," he said, shifting uncomfortably. "Nothing important. There's just something I gotta do, help you out with the closing the tear thing."

"Yeah? You know how to do it? Wanna share?"

"Nah. I have to keep my aura of mystery somehow," he said.

"Meanie," I said, pouting.

"Get used to it. Actually, you really should have gotten used to it long ago. Geez, Cid's Girl, you take forever to catch on to things don't you?"

I hit a roadblock trying to come up with a witty retort so I settled for saying, "Meanie," again.

He chuckled.

I plopped myself down on the ground and settled in to wait. After a moment I tried to kick Gippal's feet out from under him so he would sit too. He looked down at me, completely ignoring the fact that I was whacking his ankles.

"What _are _you doing?" he asked.

I widened my eyes and blinked up at him. "Sit with me, Gip. It hurts my neck to look up at you like that."

He heaved a sigh and sat down. "Don't _do_ that," he ordered.

"Do what?" I asked innocently.

"The eye thing."

"Why?"

"It's distracting."

"Why you dirty old man!" I exclaimed, delighted.

"Not like that!" he said. "It just – well, not like that."

"Uh-huh," I said, extremely pleased, and smiling like the cat that got the canary.

He was about to respond when a pillar of flame appeared before us, the heat scorching and intense, singing my eyelashes. The fire faded quickly, leaving a tanned Al Bhed man with flames licking the edges of him, and a shimmer of hot air like wings behind him. The Phoenix. I knew it was him immediately, because really, who else would it be? It was a bit obvious, and while I have my blond moments, they aren't that intense.

The first thing I noticed about him was the smell of sulfur. It billowed around him, reeking and harsh and burning the inside of my nose. I wanted to gag. But this was our hero, our legend. I couldn't figure out how to react – awe or disgust. I settled somewhere in between, scrambling to my feet and looking up at him.

That was the second thing I noticed- he was freaking tall. And it wasn't even because he was hovering a few inches above the ground in the same way that Valefor did, he was just tall. Freakishly, abominably tall. Someone needed to remove about four inches from his legs, so's he'd be on even footing with the rest of us.

"Hiya," I said, rather uncomfortably. I mean, this guy had been, like, rooting around in my head, or something. How did you greet someone like that? Durr, hey, hope you didn't poke around in the dirty bits? No way!

"Hello, desert child," he said. He smiled with his eyes, and I started to relax. "You are, I think, related to me. Distantly, but blood is strong. It may be why I feel such a kinship with you."

"You feel a kinship with me?" I asked, stumbling over the words in my surprise. "_Me?_ But – but you're a legend. I'm just a kid." After a second I stuck out my tongue and elbowed Gippal. "Oh, _yuck_. Remind me never to say that again. We don't need another Shinra in this world."

"Yeah, you've got the right in that one," he agreed.

The Phoenix looked amused. "Yes, I do. You remind me very much of my younger sister. And, while I was not able to keep watch over her like I may have wished, I was assured that she married and had children. Who knows, you may be my niece."

"Or," I said, "It could just be that with such a small population, everybody's related to everybody else, at least a little bit."

"Yes," he said, looking pained. "That could be it. My version was more romantic and story like."

I bit back a laugh. Who knew the Phoenix was a romantic? "Yeah, but mine's more realistic."

Gippal nudged me. "Care to get back on topic, Cid's Girl?"

"Oh, yeah," I said, deflating a bit. "Mr. Phoenix, sir, Valefor said that you would need to help us for us to get up there to close the crack in the Farplane."

"It's true that no one else will be able to transport you, but I cannot carry you there. I can only make a path - you will have to travel it yourself."

"Great," I said and sighed. This was taking forever, and it didn't seem like it would speed up anytime soon. I cracked my neck, told myself to man up. "What do we have to do?"

"There will be a path, much like the one you traveled in Macalania Forest, much like the one Auron created to allow you to enter this place. It will take many days, but you will travel up it. With the other fayth, and the power of the dead who remain, I will be able to hold it open for you for as long as needed. Unless you take over a week, in which case we'll probably all cease to exist."

"So really, as long as needed was just to make us feel safer?" I asked, kicking a tuft of grass.

He made a funny little face. "Yes, that would be the most accurate way to look at it. Try not to sleep for too long each night?"

"Wonderful!" I said. "This is just fantastic! Really!"

"Rikku, you're getting hysterical," said Gippal. "You get really ugly when you cry, you might want to calm down."

"Oh, shove off!" I shouted. "You have no room to talk, all you do is confuse me and-and-and shove feelings at me at the worst possible moment, and really why are you even here?"

"Because someone needs to die, Rikku!" he shouted back. "To close the rip, someone needs to die, and I'm not about to let it be you!"

"Wh-what?" I stammered, shocked. I glanced at the Phoenix. "Is he telling the truth?"

"Yes, Rikku," the Phoenix murmured, eyes downcast. "We thought it best that you did not know. That way, you would be able to enjoy your remaining time with him."

"How - how dare you! You can't - I can't - I need to be alone right now." I ran, then, ran until my lungs burned, which wasn't long, what with me still recovering from that stupid, STUPID injury. When I stopped running, I crouched in the grass, and I sobbed into my hands.

Gippal put his hand on my shoulder. "Rikku," he started.

"Shut up," I said, rather tearily. "I know I'm being selfish. I KNOW. I don't care. I don't want you to die. I don't want me to die either. Is there really no other way, I mean - Sin supposedly could only be killed with the Final Summon, and look how that turned out, and oh, fayth Gippal I don't like this. Not one bit."

"You're right," he said, crouching next to me. "You are being selfish. I made my peace with this, and I'm willing to die for the sake of the world. But I don't blame you. I'm being selfish too, because I don't want to have to live without you."

I sniffed loudly. "Isn't it a bit early in the relationship for you to be saying stuff like that?"

He chuckled, wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "Rikku, I didn't realize it until recently, but I've loved you for awhile. Since we were kids probably."

I broke in. "Then why all the other girls?"

"Because - I don't know, I didn't realize I was in love with you? Fayth, Rikku, for the longest time I thought the funny feeling in my stomach was heartburn. I went to about five doctors trying to figure it out. And you weren't around for the longest time, and I'm not going to be that pathetic cliche that waits forever."

I laughed and leaned into him. "I do love you, Gippal."

"Good," he said. "At this point, if you didn't, I would have to send you to have your head checked."

I tried to punch him in the shoulder, but ended up just grabbing onto his shirt, knotting my fingers in the fabric. "We can think of something," I said. "We did it last time, me and Yunie and Tidus, and I can do it again."

He put his hand over mine. "I believe in you. Oh, fayth, I think our sap level is rising dangerously. C'mon, let's start quipping things at each other, or killing fiends or something, because you know how awesomeness is inversely related to sap. Oh no! At the rate we're going, we'll turn into your cousin and her boy in minutes."

I laughed again, and brushed off the tears hanging on my chin. "Yuna and Tidus are adorable! But you're right, they're pretty sappy. Let's go save the world again."

We walked back to the waterfall hand in hand. Phoenix was sitting cross legged in the air, playing solitaire. "You're back?" he said. "Are you ready to ascend?"

I scowled and pushed my hand through my hair. "Yeah, I guess. It might be a good idea for us to sleep first - today was kind of draining, and I don't want us wasting your power if we have to konk out in an hour."

"Fair enough," he said and stood, brushing non-existent dirt off his pants. "I shall wake you tomorrow. Sleep well."

He did the melodramatic explodey thingy and I turned to Gippal. "All alone," I said, trying for a lascivious smirk. It fell a bit flat, and I leaned into his chest to hide it.

"Cid's Girl, you have GOT to stop trying to get into my pants. I'm a man of integrity, it just won't work," he said.

I couldn't laugh. "Gippal, I have an idea."

"Yeah?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant. "What is it?"

"I'm not going to tell you now. I don't want to get either of our hopes up."

"Fine, fine. Don't tell."

I tried to smile at the affront in his voice, but couldn't. Instead, I pulled his head down and kissed him softly. His lips were chapped but it was still soft and tender. He was the one who pulled away.

"I can't, Rikku."

"What? Why not?" I asked, embarrassed and confused.

"Because I'm going to die soon, and if you keep showing me all the things I'll be missing out on, you'll ruin my resolve."

I rolled my eyes, then pleaded with him. "Can't I ruin your resolve just a little bit? I'm not asking for the world, here, just a kiss or two."

He smirked. "Really? Just kissing? You're a worse temptress than I thought, if all you're going to offer is kissing."

I punched him in the shoulder, then stomped off to lay down and go to sleep.

A few minutes later, Gippal's arms slipped around me. I rolled over and buried my face in his chest. "I thought you were done with the sappy stuff?" I whispered.

"This isn't sappy," he protested. "It's endearingly romantic. And manly. Very manly. Only manly men cuddle."

"Uh-huh," I said, and tried to fall asleep on my very manly pillow.

The Phoenix shook me awake, and I disentangled myself from Gippal, wondering how my hair could have gotten so firmly stuck on a shoulder buckle. I tried to make only small movements, and no noise, so as not to wake him. When I was finally able to stand, I padded over to the Phoenix where he stood a few dozen feet away.

"What is it?" I asked him in a low voice.

He gestured behind him and I saw a staircase, turning tight spirals all the way to the sky. It shimmered and sparkled like stars, or a very gassy unicorn's farts. "When you are ready, you may begin. But, niece, I must ask you one thing before that happens."

I barely registered that he had decided to call me niece, if by barely registered you mean wondering whether he meant it in the literal or the metaphorical way. "What is it?" I asked.

"Will you be able to carry through with this?"

I thought, for a long, long moment. I had my plan, and it was a workable plan, if not a great one. "Yes," I said, looking into his eyes. I saw the flames flickering in the back of them, and it only freaked me out a little - I mean, it only made me more determined. "I can do it. I will do it. The whole world means more than one person, right?"

And in that moment, I felt like Yunie must have at the beginning of her pilgrimage, when she first decided to become a summoner. I felt empty and hard and desperate. There was nothing else I could do. I couldn't walk away, I couldn't let Gippal die, even if it meant my life. (Oh dear, there was the drama again. I would really have to stop hanging out with Yunie, she watched far too many of those horrible movies - if I survived. And I was depressed again.) It was hard to know that when the time came, if my plan didn't work, I would shove Gippal out of the way, and I would give up everything. Hard to know, but better than letting Gippal take the bullet. That man was far too romantic for his own good, and damned if I wasn't going to return the favor. I sighed. Determined and frightened as I was the whole morass of emotions tapered into one point - I _would not let the world die._

I laughed a little bitterly, a little bit brittle. "Yeah, I'll do it."

He looked at me, measured me up, comparing me to all the summoners he'd seen throw their lives away. After that long moment where his eyes bore into mine, he said, "Good."

I turned and walked back to Gippal. I woke him with a gentle nudge to his shoulder. "Time to get going, sleepy head," I said.

He pushed himself to his feet, grumbling, and we took the first step onto the starry path.


	13. You are now entering

It was slippery and sticky at the same time - my foot slid through the glass-y . . . stuff for a single terrifying second, then stopped and wouldn't move until I planted my other foot and tried to take another step. It was extremely weird, and disquieting, and I was oh-so glad there was a rail. I reached out and grabbed Gippal's hand, needing the simple reassurance of human warmth while walking up the glass staircase.

I jostled him a bit. "I'm not going to let you die."

He smiled at me, but it wasn't a very convincing smile. "I know."

We walked in silence for several more minutes, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. Then I stopped. He continued on a step, then stopped too. I stared out over the Farplane.

"It's beautiful," I said. "Even falling apart, even broken, it's beautiful."

"Yeah," he said. "It is. Good thing we're saving it, then isn't it?"

"Yep!" I said. "And you know what that makes us, don't you?"

"Big damn heroes?" he asked me, smirking.

"The biggest," I said. Then I looked up. The rip was grotesque, and it had grown since we first entered. The blood red moon had a dozen cracks in it, and the singing - I grew suddenly and acutely aware - had stopped. I couldn't remember when it had stopped, but it was gone, leaving just silence. Not the whispering of the pyreflies as they flew, not the chatter of people talking to their dearly departed, not a single sound but that of my breathing and Gippal's. I turned to him.

"When did the hymn stop?" I asked.

He frowned. "I - I don't know."

I bit my lip and thumped myself on the head. "Pops always told me I needed to be more observant. Always right before lecturing me on why I should stop hanging out with you, but still."

"I'm glad you tuned him out," offered Gippal with a wry smirk.

"Yeah, me too." I smiled up at him, then started to walk again. After another moment, I pulled my hand from his, and started to run. It was hard, harder than running in sand, even harder than running with Brother clinging to my leg. The path sucked at my feet harder when I tried to go faster, and a few moments later I stopped, panting from the effort.

"What is it?" he called up to me.

"I think I see something!" I shouted back down, and shaded my eyes, looking up once more. "There's something up ahead, but I can't tell what it is yet."

I started to walk once more and Gippal swore loudly behind me. I grinned, but didn't turn to look. Whatever it was, it was far too interesting to let it out of my sight.

It took another few minutes of walking to get there - this place was more annoying about long paths to walk then it was when we had to get to Vegnagun, and that was saying something - and I let out a delighted laugh. "It's a rest stop," I shouted down to him. "There's a bed and a chest with rations in it and everything!"

"Really? How can you tell it has rations?" he asked me, from about a dozen feet below.

"It's one of the chests we seed around the desert for people who get lost. How could it be anything else?"

"Well, I hope it has more than grenades and Al Bhed potions. Those aren't especially useful to us at the moment, you know."

I rolled my eyes and opened the chest. I just had to chortle with delight upon my finds - my loot, as Yuna would say when she was trying too hard to be cool. A stuffed bunny, made from purple yarn, just like the one my mother had given me when I was really, really little. A whole mess of food, and none of it was the nasty MREs we had to eat on ships, when we couldn't get any fish. There were ingredients for a great stew, and a pot to boot. It was like my birthday and Calm Day all in one! And under all of that - it was hard to be embarrassed, this was so exciting.

"Gippal! Fresh underwear!"

"Really?" he asked, similarly delighted. "Oh man, this IS pretty awesome." He finally got to the landing and rushed over to me. "Oh my," he said. "Rikku, you simply must protest! This underwear will actually cover you!"

I punched him lightly in the chest. "Shut up! All the running around was hot!"

"And that meant everyone needed to see the straps of your thong?"

I punched him again, coming up short on clever responses. "Enjoy your dancing cactaur boxers," I sniffed, and walked away, taking the bunny with me. I sat on one of the cots and started to work out the kinks in my back and neck. "Well?" I asked after a moment. "Aren't you going to make dinner? Or lunch - or wait, have we had breakfast? Man this place has really messed up my internal clock."

"Your internal clock was never accurate to begin with, Cid's Girl. Yeah, yeah, gimme a second. Turn around, I'm changing."

I reluctantly complied, not wanting to let him out of my sight for fear he would just go POOF and be gone. I hugged the bunny to my chest. The ears tickled my chin. "Gippal?" I asked, hesitantly.

"What is it?"

"If you had known it would turn out like this, would you have come with me?"

There was a long pause. I studied the horizon half-heartedly. The ground stretched away forever, and the waterfall seemed darker than water. I couldn't quite tell what it was instead, though. Maybe oil? Not blood. Surely not blood. That would be ridiculous and cliche. It was probably just the dark sky making the water look like something else.

"Yes," he said. "Although I probably would have begged Paine to come too. She's great with all this weird-ass depressing shit."

"Ha!" I said. "Yeah, you're right, Paine would be way better suited for this than me. What with all the black leather, you just know she's super prepared for the moon to turn to blood."

"I'm not seeing the correlation here exactly," he said, sitting down with his back against mine, "but you lived with her for a year, so I'll take your word for it."

"You guys were pretty close for awhile there, too, you know. I'm not the only one who's read her super secret diary."

He laughed, the vibrations rumbling from him to me. "You know me too well. You'll have to disappear under suspicious circumstances."

"Like you would dare. You know that once I'm gone absolutely no one will ever get your jokes. Or the way you get all paranoid about birds."

"Birds are scary!" he protested. "Especially swans. Those long necks? Those evil eyes? You just know they're planning something. And that something is breaking your arm with their wings."

"Uh-huh," I said. "Paranoid."

We slipped into a comfortable silence and stayed there until I shoved him off the bed and told him to shut his cyclops eye, I needed to change. When I was done, I poked him in the back with my foot. "Go make me food," I demanded.

He rolled his eye and did so. While the smell of stew cooking and the sound of wood burning surrounded me, I withdrew and went to that little place inside my head I used on Yunie's pilgrimage, though not to great effect. Let's face it – Yunie thought up how to save Yunie, Tidus and I just convinced her it was worth it. Gippal wouldn't be doing me any such favors. Okay. I could do this. I had a plan. I didn't want to put it into words, because the second you do that, things don't work out according to plan, but I had it. It was doable. It might not work, but then again, it might. It had a higher chance of success than letting Gippal kill himself anyway. But maybe I needed a back-up, other than throwing myself in his way, you know? As much as I didn't like the idea of Gippal dying, the idea of my own death was no less attractive, just maybe a little easier to live with. Ha. No pun intended.

I startled when he put his hand on my shoulder, jerking around and staring at him.

"You went a million miles away, Cid's Girl. I don't much like that."

I shook my head, the beads rattling. "Like you can tell me what to do."

He snorted. "No, of course not. But I don't like when you go where I can't follow."

"That is," I said and paused. "Actually kind of sweet. Thank you."

He smirked at me. "No problem, Cid's Girl. I mean, the awesome exterior wouldn't be quite so awesome without an equally awesome interior."

I rolled my eyes. "You used the word awesome way too many times there, Gip. Work on that vocab."

He stuck his tongue out at me. "Like you're one to talk, Cid's Girl. You're the one that says 'Meanie' all the time, and 'you know?' and is constantly repeating yourself." He paused and waited, then added with a wicked smirk, "You know?"

I threw the bunny at him. "When will the stew be ready?" I asked.

"Depends on whether you want it to be good or bad."

"Good."

"An hour."

I winced. "Bad?"

He shrugged. "Ten minutes?"

"That works." Satisfied with our deal, I lay back on the bed, tapping my fingers on my stomach. Nerves, nerves, nerves. I needed to get rid of my nerves. Somehow. It would be absolutely lovely to just run around and around for about an hour, or oooh, go for a dig. I know it's kind of weird, but I absolutely loved digs. Probably because when I was really little, that was the special thing my Pops would do with me. It was our Father-Daughter time. All the rest of the time he would be busy or tired or just plain old mean, but on digs it was just him and me, and I could bounce around and be silly and he could be a dad instead of the Fearless Leader the rest of the Al Bhed had come to expect at that point.

I glanced at Gippal. I could think of a couple other ways to release tension. But the platform wasn't quite big enough for a proper fight - my eyes dipped a bit lower down his back than was strictly appropriate. No. No, that wouldn't do at all. We decided to take things slow, and jumping him because of nerves would be about the complete opposite of taking things slow. It would be a terrible, terrible idea. Even if he was being all domestic, and Valefor, that was sexy. A man who can cook? Take me. Take me now.

Maybe just the once wouldn't hurt . . . ? No. It was a bad idea. I needed to repeat that to myself a couple times, then list the reasons exactly why. 1) The stew would burn. 2) He'd take it as encouragement for stupidly sacrificing himself.

Actually, number two alone was enough to kill my libido. I rolled over onto my side and stared out across the Farplane. In the distance - not that I could see particularly well - the ground seemed to fall away to nothing. The bright lights of pyreflies that had been so heavily coating the Plane back when we were fighting Vegnagun were far less numerous.

The whole place really was falling apart. That cemented my plans. This had to stop, and we had to set some sort of failsafe up so that it would never happen again. Someone monitoring the Plane at all times, ready and waiting for something bad to happen.

And I would have to beat Shinra until he dropped that stupid idea of using the energy of the Farplane for power. Fayth, why hadn't I already? The energy is souls, and if he realized that and still thought it was a good plan, he needed to be kept from any sort of tools whatsoever. And possibly people, too. How did you deal with budding sociopaths, anyway?

"Cid's Girl, chow time," called Gippal.

I sat up and popped the kinks out of my back once more, then took the bowl he offered me. I took a sip and made a face. Cross his being domestic off the list - if this was his cooking, I never wanted him in a real kitchen where there were actual things that could, you know, blow up. Like creme brulee torches. That was just an accident waiting to happen. I informed him of my opinion, eloquently and at length.

"Shut up, Cid's Girl," he snapped back. "I'm not the one who tried to mix lemons and ice cream."

"I was FIVE," I said, rather huffily. "I don't hold your shortcomings from when you were FIVE against you."

He shot me an amused look. "Yes, you do. You do it all the time. Just last week, you refused to let me spot you when you went rock climbing because when I was seven I let you fall."

"Yeah, but you haven't shown any signs of maturing since then," I pointed out, reasonably.

"Oh, I've matured plenty, Cid's Girl," he said, his eye dark and his voice husky.

"Stop smoldering at me," I complained. "It makes me feel dirty."

"Good," he said. "It's supposed to. That's the point. Does it make you want to take your clothes off?"

"Only to wash them."

"Uh-huh," he said smugly. "I could have you begging, Cid's Girl."

"You'd have to stop calling me Cid's Girl before then," I said, carefully neutral. "Being reminded of my father doesn't exactly get me hot."

He wilted. "Okay, you're right, total mood killer. Why'd you have to remind me of your Pops?" he whined. "Now all I can picture is him yelling at me for trying to sully his little girl."

"Oh, that's so sweet!" I cooed. "In your mind there's still something left to sully."

Saying that, I finished my soup and started up the path again. Gippal leaped up behind me.

"No - no, you can't leave me hanging like this. Cid's Girl!"

I ignored him, plodding up the stairs. From somewhere far below, I thought I heard glass shattering.

"Rikku? Rikku, c'mon!"

It was nice to hear my name for once, but I was too intrigued by the breaking sounds to pay attention. I bent over the railing and peered down into the darkness.

The path glittered slightly, fading out of existence at the further reaches, but that wasn't what was making the sound. I frowned and squinted hard.

"Oh, _shit_," I whispered when I realized what it was.

"What?" Gippal asked, suddenly concerned. "What's wrong?"

I grabbed his head and made him look down as soon as he pulled up beside me. "Look," I said. "Look at the ground."

It took him a second to figure it out, but then he gave a little gasp. "Oh, _shit_," he agreed.

The ground was breaking. Just shattering and falling away. The grasses I had run through just hours - days? - before were gone. The only thing left was the darkness. Occasionally a lone pyrefly would swoop through, but even they seemed to avoid the places where the ground had disappeared.

Yeah, okay. This had just gotten a whole lot more serious. Not that it hadn't been serious before. But we were going from, like, one area getting all screwy to oh-fayth-the-world's-about-to-implode. I hate deadlines. Have I mentioned that yet? Well, I do. I started up the stairs again. It was the only thing I could do. All the other paths were gone. All the choices were made. Now, the consequences had to be dealt with.


	14. Curtain Call

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I haven't had any inclination to work on this. Not really writer's block, just couldn't get motivated. But I want to finish this story before it's a year old, so gonna hit the grindstone. There'll probably only be an epilogue after this. Thank you for reading and sticking with me and my horrible updating schedule, everyone! Please enjoy!

* * *

We didn't talk the rest of the way up. It was hard to tell time there. The sky didn't change and soon we couldn't see the ground as it splintered and fell away. Besides the whole unchangingness of the place, there was a certain feeling of pointlessness in keeping track. We'd get there when we got there. What would be, would be.

We slept. We walked. I ran. Gippal ran after me. I skipped and sang sea shanties when the feeling of the place became overwhelming and I wanted to just pop the whole depressing aura but we didn't talk. Nothing more than, "Wanna rest now?" And then we were there. It felt like space had contorted around us, bringing us closer to the rip without giving us the days Phoenix had promised. It felt like it could have been an hour, it could have been ten, certainly not days, but the rip was suddenly right there. Up close it was even uglier, like a scab that had been ripped off a half-healed wound, bleeding and oozing and consuming.

Gippal started to move past me, eye hard. I put my hand out to stop him, laying it on his chest. He looked down at me.

"Don't even think about it," I said. "So what's the ritual thing to close the rip?"

"You really think I'm going to tell you? You'll just do it yourself," he said, glaring at me.

"You're not totally wrong," I said. I pushed my hair out of my eyes with a sigh. "Do you want to know my plan, or are you just going to stand there glaring at me?"

He shifted his weight uneasily. "Fine," he said eventually. "What's the plan?"

"We both give half."

For a long time he just stared at me. Then, "What?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Fayth, sometimes the man was dense. It was a good thing – a _very_ good thing – that he knew how to work machina or he'd be completely useless. "We both give half our life force. It's not ideal, but this way we'll both live a while longer."

He stared at me some more, trying gauge my seriousness. "Blood sacrifice," he said finally, cracking a tiny smile. "And you thought we were done with barbaric rituals."

"There's just no getting rid of things like that," I said, shaking my head. Then I pulled out my dagger and slashed my wrist, deep enough to bleed heavily but not deep enough that I'd pass out soon. "So where do I need to bleed?" I asked, trying to keep the wobble of pain out of my voice.

"Shit, Rikku!" he shouted, knotting his hands in his hair. "What is your _problem_?"

"If I warned you, you'd stop me," I said. "Now, _where do I have to bleed_?"

He shook his head, trying to focus. "Into the rip," he said eventually. "It's looking for life, and the ritual gives it."

I moved to the rip and thrust my arm into the rip, my knees nearly buckling at the sudden pain. It felt like the biggest leech in the world was attached to me and it was sucking me dry faster than I thought possible.

"Anything else needed?" I asked as I fell to my knees. "Also, if you could come join me, that'd be peachy just now."

"This was your brilliant plan?" he asked as walked over to me. "What if it just sucks us both dry?" While he spoke, he was grabbing the dagger I'd dropped and rolling his sleeve back. He grit his teeth and opened a wound on his own arm before putting his arm into the rip.

I couldn't shrug. It was taking all my concentration not to start screaming. This was so much worse than I'd imagined possible. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt sweat, clammy and cold, pop up all over my body. "Then we both die. Honestly, Gippal, with what I had to work with, this is kind of the best I could do."

He shook his head before being forced to his knees like me. "I love you, you crazy, crazy girl." It was faintly admiring.

"Thanks -" I couldn't stand the pain anymore. I started to scream. My eyes popped open and I saw red, flickering magic leap out of the rip and wrap around us both. Gippal was chanting something I couldn't hear. It could have been something mystical, or it could have been swearing. Either seemed appropriate.

Suddenly, I wasn't in pain. I wasn't on my knees in the Farplane, either. Glancing around, I couldn't figure out _where_ I was. Then, sand appeared beneath my feet. A sky the kind of blue you only get in the desert took form above my head. Over the horizon, the ugly metal of Home was visible – not New Home, the Home I'd grown up in. A ways away, not far, I saw Gippal. He faced away from me, sharp against the fuzziness of the surroundings.

With a deep breath of sand sharp air, I started towards him. But with every step I took he got farther away. Panicking, I started to run. He disappeared.

Shaking, I sat. What was going on? Where was I? Why had Gippal been here? Why had he disappeared?

I shook my head. Sitting here wouldn't get me any answers. It would just get me sand in my pants. I pushed myself back to my feet.

Time to rock this joint. Where was I? The last thing I could remember was the rip, and the Farplane, and yeah, okay, Gippal and kissing featured pretty big, too. But this was – a dream, or a hallucination or something?

Must be. Bikanel stretched out around me, but there was something subtly off about everything. Not just the fact that Home was there, in as good a condition as it ever was.

I snapped. That was it! There was no shimmer of heat in the distance. I frowned. There was no heat. It was actually kind of chilly, and, yeah, the desert got cold at night, but the sun was high in the sky – I looked at the sun again.

Another problem. It was orange, not the usual pale yellow of Bikanel. And it didn't hurt to look at, even though the real one did. I should know, I'd tried to have a staring contest with it once, on a bet from Brother.

Really stupid bet, thinking back. Whatever. I shook my head and started walking, in the opposite direction of Home. If the things I went towards disappeared, what about the things I went away from?

I glanced back over my shoulder and saw that I was almost within the perimeter of Home. I couldn't repress a smirk. Ancestors, I was smart.

What if I thought of something in particular? If this was a dream, it might bring that object to me. I thought about my old claw, Godhand. I imagined every detail – the way it smelled of metal and leather and polishing oil, and the way it creaked when I moved, and the way it felt when I slammed it into fiends.

Something _shifted_ in the world, or maybe in me. I glanced down and saw that I looked like I had during the pilgrimage – the thick pinky orange shirt, the ruffly green shorts and, I smiled, Godhand, right where it should be. I flexed my hand and enjoyed the sound of creaking leather.

Dress spheres were great, but nothing quite matched the feeling of having a skill all your own, with no helpful nudging.

Now that I was all decked out to kick ass, where was Gippal? If this was due to the rip, he should be here with me, or at least in a similar situation.

Whatever. I reached into my pouch, and felt a smile stretch my face in a grin so wide it was probably pretty creepy. Yeeeess.

Gleefully, I mixed up a Sunburst. On the pilgrimage, I hadn't been able to use it, like, ever, but I knew it was just about the most powerful attack I could do, rivaling even Auron's attacks. I slammed it into the ground. No use pussy footing around, after all.

Then I took cover, going as fast as I could for an abandoned hover. The explosion rocked the world, sending chunks of rock raining down around me. I peeked over the hover and grinned at the sight of swirling blackness where a hole in the ground should have been. I vaulted over the hover and looked down the hole.

"Here goes nothing," I whispered to myself, and took a step forward.

There was a moment where gravity asserted itself, _hard_, but then weightlessness kicked in. I was floating in a shimmering blackness, surrounded by points of light. This was starting to get interesting.

I kicked, and started swimming. It didn't really matter what direction, so I just went down. I could breath fine, and swimming seemed to work. I swam for what felt like an eternity. Then my hand skidded off of something smooth and hard. Yes! Something new! I put the flat of both hands against it, then pushed my face forward. My nose bumped the surface – I really couldn't be more specific. It didn't look any different from the rest of the glittery black stuff around me. Then my nose moved through and the rest of my face followed.

Um. Wow. Okay. That was different. I blinked, trying to make sure what I was seeing was real, or at least real-ish.

Gippal stood over my unconscious body. The other Rikku was on a bed, hands folded over her chest, eyes closed, face completely at peace.

"Huh," I said as I finished pulling myself through. "Your hallucination is weirder than mine."

He whirled and stared at me. The first thing I noticed was that he had both his eyes. They bore into me, intense and green, and all I could think for a moment was, _When this is all done, we aren't going to leave bed for a week._

It took a lot of effort to shake that idea from my head.

"You're okay," he said, sounding breathless and astonished.

"Well, yeah," I said. "Did you really expect less from me?"

He glanced guiltily at the other me, where she lay still and corpselike. "Of course not."

I slung my arm around his shoulders and opened the door out of the room onto a scape of stars and supernovas. "Let's blow this joint."

We stepped forward in unison.

* * *

My eyes snapped open and I stared up at the dark sky of the Farplane. The moon glowed milky pale and pyreflies swarmed above me.

It took a herculean effort, I was so bone tired, but I turned my head to the side. My hair itched and I had to fight the urge to sneeze, but I couldn't stop smiling.

Gippal was staring back at me, completely alive and looking rather peevish.

"When I can stand, I'm going to kiss you until you suffocate," I informed him.

"And we just put so much effort into _not_ dying," he said, "It'd be such a shame to waste it all."

"I think I'll live. So, what was that whole fantasy land escapade thing?" I asked.

"Well, the fayth told me I'd see a motivating force in my life as I died. You must have thrown it off when you did whatever you did to break through."

I smiled to myself. So, Bikanel and Gippal were what drove me? I could live with that. "Nah, I think you're just trying to explain away why you saw me all prettied up and not talking."

"She was talking until about ten minutes before you arrived. I'm not _that_ shallow."

I closed my eyes. "Sure. I think I'm gonna sleep for a while. We _are_ done, right?"

He rolled his head, looking around the Farplane, or at least what was visible from the rather limited vantage point we had. "Seems like."

"Cool. Wake me up in a week."

* * *

When I dreamed, it was regular dreams. A bowl of strawberry icecream telling me to eat it. Yuna looking concerned. Paine looking murderous. Pops yelling until his head exploded. A group of dancing chocobos. You know, dream stuff.

* * *

I woke up slowly and was content to lie there, a cool sheet covering me, the sun playing across my face from the open window, for a good long while. The room was neat and bare, with a chair in the corner and a couple basic paintings on pale blue walls. The white curtains moved gently in a light breeze, and the whole place smelled of salt water. Eventually, my stomach made itself known with a particularly loud rumble, and I pushed the sheet off and sat up. After fighting off minor vertigo, I stood, the patterned tiles making me dance across the floor because of the cold.

It looked like a Travel Agency, but there weren't any Travel Agencies near the sea. I stepped through the door, and saw Yunie sitting at a table in the front room, sipping a mug of something steaming.

"Hey, Yunie," I said.

She dropped the mug, splattering tea everywhere. "Rikku!"

"Hi? Um, how did I get here? I could have sworn I was passed out on the Farplane." I scratched my head.

"You were! I had a dream, so Paine and I went to the Farplane, and we found you and Gippal at the entrance, unconscious." She stood and came over to me, fluttering in a rather endearing and also kind of disturbing way. I didn't _feel_ like someone who needed fluttering over.

"How'd the Farplane look?"

"Like it always does. I even saw Auron and my father."

"Good," I said, pulling a chair out for myself. "That's good. Where's Gippal?"

"In the room next to yours. He hasn't woken up yet." She looked at me anxiously. "What happened in there? You two were a mess, and Rikku . . ."

I swallowed. That wasn't an encouraging pause. "What?" I asked. "Did I grow a third eye?"

"No, it's just . . . you look older. The both of you."

"How _much_ older?" I asked hesitantly.

She handed me a mirror instead of answering, one of those small ones that girls who wear make up carry around. I examined myself. I _did_ look older, but it wasn't so bad. Maybe ten years or so?

"Can I go see him?"

"I don't think you should, not yet." She bit her lip. "Would you like something to eat?"

"You have no _idea_. What's on the menu?"

"Eggs, mostly. Paine's cooking."

"Ah. Well, I'll have some eggs, then. Where are we?" Paine could cook a few basics very well, but asking her to go out of that comfort zone was courting disaster. She couldn't even manage the simplest of the curries I tried to teach her.

"Bikanel. Your father thought it would be best for you to wake up at home."

I grinned and shouted back at the counter. "How are those eggs coming, Dr. P?"

A dour tone came back to me. "Don't push it, Rikku."

"So is this a new part of New Home? Because I totally don't recognize it."

There was the crash of a door hitting a wall and I whirled in my seat to see Gippal stumbling out of his room, yawning. He dropped into the seat next to mine and moaned, "Fooooood."

"Make that two omelets!" I shouted to Paine.

"Actually, Rikku, it's -" Yuna paused and twisted her hands in her lap. "It's your house. Cid is giving it to you."

Huh. I looked around. "It's kinda big for one person."

Gippal smirked at me from where his head rested on the table. "Better start filling it up then."

I smiled back. Yeah. Could do. And I knew just who'd be perfect for the job.


End file.
